New Delhi: In view of the COVID-19 upsurge, more than one lakh students of Class X and XII have signed petitions, urging the government to either cancel board exams or conduct them in online mode.
The board exams are scheduled to be held in May.
“The situation in India is getting worse day by day. When there were only a few cases in the country, they cancelled the remaining board exams and now when the cases are at a peak they are planning to open schools. We urge the education minister to look into this matter and cancel all examinations to be held this year as students are already under a lot of stress,” said a petition on Change.org.
The hashtag “cancelboardexams2021” has been trending on Twitter for the last couple of days.
Both the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) have, however, said that adequate safety arrangements are in place for students and all COVID-19 guidelines will be complied with during the exams.
“Adequate arrangements are being made to ensure the students are safe and all COVID protocols are followed. The number of exam centres has been increased by 40-50 per cent to ensure social distancing. The staff at exam centres is being sensitised to ensure all guidelines are followed,” a senior CBSE official was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
It may be recalled that the board had last week declared that if any student fails to appear for ongoing practical exams for COVID reasons, the schools will conduct re-tests at an appropriate time for them. The central board officials have not, however, clarified whether the same would be applicable for theory exams.
Chief executive and secretary at CISCE, Gerry Arathoon also said that the exam schedule “will remain the same”.
