Student Writes To Odisha CM Against ‘Forced’ Offline Exams In Pvt Schools

Bhubaneswar: Despite strong opposition from parents and students, several private schools in Bhubaneswar are conducting offline exams for Class IX and XI without holding physical classes in alleged violation of the state government’s directive.

While the parents’ association has demanded some more days of classroom teaching before exams, a student of a Bhubaneswar-based school has written to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik urging him to intervene in the matter.

“We the students of Class IX and XI are not prepared to give offline exams as we have not received classroom teaching for the past one year,” wrote Aarin Moharana, alleging that they are being forced to give the test and the schools have also not bothered to take the consent of the parents for the same.

“We have not been taught properly in the online classes and some teachers have just been forwarding PDF and PPT document in the name of teaching,” he wrote.

Aarin also raised concern about COVID-19 situation and risk to the students.

The government gave the go-ahead for physical classes for these students on February 8. It had directed the school authorities to conduct regular classroom teaching for 100 days before the annual examinations in the last week of April.

However, some schools started offline exams on February 15, while others are conducting the tests from February 22 and 26.

Also Read: Testing Times: ‘Early’ Offline Exams Quandary For ICSE Students In Odisha Capital

This sudden announcement to hold offline exams without classroom teaching created panic among the students. Some alleged that their plea to postpone the exams fell on deaf ears.

“We were not given even a month to prepare for the exam. Courses were completed a week preceding the exam date. But the school authorities are in no mood to relent. Parents were turned away when they requested for the exams to be postponed,” said a student requesting anonymity.

While the next academic year in ICSE schools is expected to start in March, the CBSE has advised its affiliated schools to start the next session by April this year.