E-Paper
Covid-19: Students want board, JEE, NEET exams postponed
Ahead of Union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’s online interactive session with class 10 and 12 students and aspirants of different competitive exams on Thursday, various stakeholders have demanded postponement of all exams in light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Ahead of Union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’s online interactive session with class 10 and 12 students and aspirants of different competitive exams on Thursday, various stakeholders have demanded postponement of all exams in light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Usually, board exams for class 10 and 12 are held in the February-March while competitive examinations such as Joint Entrance Examination and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) are held in April-May. This year, both the exams were held in September due to the Covid-19 crisis and the subsequent lockdown announced in March. CBSE is yet to announce dates for the upcoming exams and consultations with stakeholders are currently underway, the board said last week.
Darshan Ram, a class 12 student of commerce stream at Bluebells School International, said, “While our classes were being conducted online, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has already announced that exams will be held in offline mode. If that is the case, students should get practise writing tests from their schools for time management. The board exams must be delayed by a few months so that the Covid-19 situation is better in the country and we could go to our schools to write the tests.”
Students from science stream are also concerned about the competitive examinations like JEE and NEET. Priyal (only first name), a class 12 student at the Indraprastha International School in Dwarka, said since CBSE had reduced the syllabus by 30% this year in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, many topics had not been covered in school classes.
“These topics are fairly difficult and require self-study or assistance from tutors or coaching centres. Since learning has mostly continued online, we need more time to prepare for the competitive exams. Besides, the students who chose to drop a year during the last academic cycle will also be competing with us and they did not have the reduced syllabus like ours. The competition is tougher than previous years and we would want authorities to take that into account,” she said.
Kunal Singh, a class 12 student of a government school in east Delhi’s Nand Nagri, added that lack of clarity over practical exams is also a cause of concern among many. “Even our coaching classes began late due to the lockdown announced in March. There is still no clarity over practical examinations and how they will be conducted without any offline practical lessons. It will be better if exams are delayed.”
Several students and parents have also flagged health concerns amid rising cases of Covid-19. Trisha Kakkar, a class 12 student at The Indian School, said, “Since the Covid-19 cases continue to increase, students are worried about contracting the virus. Will these students be allowed to write papers or not? Though entrance tests and CBSE compartment exams did take place during the pandemic, it did not involve as many students as board exams.”
Aparajita Gautam, president of the Delhi Parents Association, said, “Examination agencies should set up extra centres to ensure physical distancing is maintained to prevent the risk of spreading Covid-19. Delaying the exam by two or three months cannot be an option because it disrupts the academic calendar for the next batches as well. Hence, we propose that it be delayed by over a month so that students get more time to prepare for their tests. The reduction of syllabus has ensured that they can prepare for the tests in the shorter duration.”
