On the 12th of June, Jagran Josh put up a poll on twitter showcasing that almost 72% of the parents wanted the remaining board exams to get cancelled. With the increasing number of positive cases of COVID-19, most parents fear that the conditions will be worse by July. Their main concern is that their children might contract the virus and further spread it.
The decision of the Central Board of Secondary Education, CBSE, will be taken tomorrow, 23rd June 2020 by the Supreme Court. With the exams due the coming week, both anxious parents and students are urging the Supreme Court to cancel the pending the exams or find the best solution possible. The most obvious concern that parents have is whether it safe for their children to go to the examination centers and give exams while the situation is still not in control. A lot of parents are worried about the safety and precautions taken by our government. Although, now the government have taken quite a few steps to ensure the safety of the students, the parents are still not convinced and confident about it. Some parents were even ready to let the teachers give the aggregate marks or the marks based on their internals for the exams which were not done yet. Here are some of the precautions taken by our government.
- The Central Board of Secondary Education, CBSE has increased the number of schools or examination centers for the students. The initial decided number was 3,000 but now due to COVID-19 there are 15,000 examination centers to maintain social distancing.
- The students who moved to their hometown during this condition, will be allowed to give exams in their hometown at the designated examination center.
The decisions like these are very difficult. Any changes would have an immediate effect on admission to higher education institutions. CBSE officials are also concerned that if exams are made optional, then those opting out could face discrimination at the time of seeking admission to a university or college of their choice.
Some states have taken the decision for themselves. States like Telangana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry have cancelled their Class 10th Board exams. No one has cancelled the Class 12th boards. In fact, Kerala even conducted the Board exams for 13 lakh students of Class 10th and 12th in the last week of May.
The Supreme Court has given the Board time till 23rd June 2020 to react to the request documented by parents for cancelling the exams altogether. HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal has met with the Home Minister and addressed the Health Minister also this week on this issue. He likewise held a meeting with the School Education secretary Anita Karwal, CBSE head Manoj Ahuja and Director General of National Testing Agency Vineet Joshi on Tuesday.
The students and the parents are hoping the exams to get cancelled so as to keep themselves and their family members safe. Not knowing who the carrier might be and in what way things can go awry for any family, the Nation hopes to let the decision go in favour of the students and the parents. Additionally, counselling has been suggested by the CBSE board as a mandatory thing too.
