Students taking board exams in Delhi-NCR bear the brunt, struggle to beat rush

Those living outside the Delhi border made special arrangements to ensure they reached the exam centres on time ahead of the traffic restrictions given the farmers’ stir

Several students appearing for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 10 examinations and their parents, especially those living outside the Delhi border made special arrangements on Wednesday to ensure they reached the exam centres on time ahead of the traffic restrictions given the farmers’ stir.

Students after taking an exam in Noida on Wednesday. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

While some parents moved into homes of their kin in the Capital, others left their homes in the National Capital Region (NCR) way ahead of time.

Gurugram resident Nivedita Shekhar said that parents had already begun discussing the protest on WhatsApp groups and were worried the situation might deteriorate on Wednesday. Shekhar moved to her friend’s place in south Delhi’s Vasant Kunj with her daughter and her three classmates on Tuesday night. The Class 10 students were due to take their Hindi exam.

“Though there was no actual blockade at the border, not coming to Delhi would have left us sleepless at night. My only worry was if the roads were blocked, my daughter would miss the exam,” said Shekhar, a resident of DLF Phase 2 in Gurugram.

Some people left their homes for the centres early in the morning. Deep Mukherjee, a student who lives in Nirvana Country in Sector 50, Gurugram, said he and his friends from Gurugram reached their classmate’s house in Vasant Kunj around 6.30am. “The exam centre was DAV Public School, which was hardly 50 metres from the house. Our parents were worried that we might not make it to the centre,” he said.

Though traffic restrictions have been in place at Delhi borders since the board exams for classes 10 and 12 started on February 15, police stepped up security on Tuesday after the farmers made a fresh call to march to Delhi.

“After I saw in the news that farmers would be protesting on Wednesday, I took my daughter to my brother’s residence in Nirman Vihar on Tuesday evening as her exam centre was in nearby IP extension. We stayed there for the night and reached the exam centre on Tuesday morning within 15 minutes,” said Meeta Puri, a resident of Mecon Apartments in Sector 62, Noida, and mother of a Class 10 student. She added that they returned to Noida before evening as her daughter’s next exam, English, is on February 26.

Principals from several schools in NCR said that most students arrived on time for the exam on Wednesday. Urmimala Sudhakar, principal of Summer Fields School in Gurugram, said: “Students made it on time but there was a lot of anxiety among the parents and the students.”

Asha Prabhakar, principal of Bal Bharti Public School, Noida, said that they decided to keep the school gates open for an extra 30 minutes. “I have requested students and their parents to start early on the rest of the days to ensure that no student has to go through the anxiety of being late,” she said.