Ludhiana | Students shiver on cold floors, invigilators asleep at the wheel

Citing inadequate infrastructure, PSEB students of Classes 6, 7 and 9 were made to take the exam on the floor, shivering on cold floors;students were also seen huddling together on mats and discussing the answers before filling their respective OMR.

Even though the mercury plummetted and a thick fog cloaked the city, shivering students were spotted haunched over the cold grimy floor as they took their final exam at Government High School, Sunet, near Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar on Tuesday.

Students braving cold: Students in GHS Sunet were seated in the ground of the school to take their exams. Students were seen discussing and writing their exams while the teachers in-charges were seen seated on the chairs sipping tea in front of the students, Ludhiana on, December 16, 2021. (HT Photo)

Citing inadequate infrastructure, students of Classes 6, 7 and 9 were made to take the exam on the floor. Several parents saw red when they spotted their children sitting on the dusty school grounds in the freezing cold through the damaged school wall. “Perhaps, our education minister should visit these schools before boasting of development in government schools. It was difficult to drive my children to school in the thick fog, and it was terrible to see them shivering while writing their exam with frozen hands,” said a parent.

A senior teacher, on condition of anonymity, said, “In order to accommodate students taking their board exams, we had no other option, but to make the other students sit outside in the open. Besides, had we made the students sit inside, they would have made a noise and disturbed those sitting for their board exam. Our school building is under construction, and soon we will have more room.”

Another teacher blamed the Punjab School Education Board for the date sheet clash. On December 12, students of Government Senior Secondary School, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), and Government High School, Giaspura, had been made to sit on the floor.

A senior official in the local education department said that since there are double benches in the classrooms, two students cannot be seated together.

A mockery of exams

In mockery of the examination process, class 9 students were seen huddling together on mats and discussing the answers before filling their respective OMR ( Optical Mark Recognition) sheets. Though invigilators were present, they failed to check the students.

The teachers’ blamed inadequate resources for conducting examinations for failing to keep the students honest. Meanwhile, parents and students have requested school authorities to delay the school timings in the wake of the fog and cold in the morning.

District education officer Lakhvir Singh Samra, however, said that timings of the exams cannot be changed.