Thousands of government school students sat for their class 9 and 11 annual examinations on Friday despite the Union human resource development (MHRD) ministry postponing boards and other tests in the country even as two coronavirus cases were confirmed in the tricity this week.
Class 9 and 11 students wrote the English and mathematics papers, respectively, on the final day of the exams.
Teachers were informed informally on Thursday about postponement of examinations for junior classes in around 50 government high schools and 40 government senior secondary schools.
MHRD’s directive on March 18, 2020, that “during examinations, a large number of parents and guardians accompany their wards” too raises red flags given health directives pushing for minimum contact during the coronavirus outbreak.
Teachers said they could not understand how Chandigarh students were allowed to write the exams as the ministry’s letter had called for rescheduling all examinations after March 31, 2020, including paper evaluation.
When contacted for clarifications, Rubinderjit Singh Brar, director, school education, Chandigarh, said, files outlining future course of action had been “sent for approval to the higher authorities. As of now, the schools and training of teachers will continue, the decision around it is awaited.”
On the MHRD directive, Brar said, “We will follow it from now onwards.”
{{/usCountry}}On the MHRD directive, Brar said, “We will follow it from now onwards.”
{{/usCountry}}NO OPTION FOR STUDENTS
Students said they had no option but to write the papers despite fears over the coronavirus outbreak. “We don’t want to write the exams but it is mandatory for us to do so. We are obviously scared. I wasn’t able to study, but there is no choice,” said Simran, whose test centre was at the Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS), Sector 38.
Sania Malik, studying in GMSSS, Sector 40, said, she was keen to write the exams as she wanted to be promoted to the next class, but did not want to leave home because of the coronavirus pandemic .
TEACHERS WORRIED TOO
Teachers too were growing uneasy about reporting for work, a leader of the School Teacher Employee Union said on condition of anonymity. “There is growing unrest among teachers as they are being asked to report to school during a national crisis. We are also prone to infection. Moreover, every day hundreds of students visit the school. How will they ensure that we won’t get infected?”