Are taking exams more important than life despite the high risk of exposure to corona infection? Or should students be passed without exams? The whole dialogue over the controversy of exam emergency on conducting entrance exams for various institutes in these pandemic days took place in regards to these two particular questions, which has led to reveal an emerging serious concern in the current scenario of education pandemic in India. In the last few weeks if any news repeatedly makes into headlines in the country’s mediascape, is the debate on conducting annual entrance exams amidst this covid-19 pandemic.
As India is approaching ‘new normal’ unlocking successive phases of lockdown, debates are getting high over the crisis in public health infrastructure, economy, and mental health among other serious issues that have not even left education out of the desk. The closure of educational institutes across the country ensuring safety measures among students in such health disasters has made an incomparable impact on education and led the usual teaching–learning process to stop and left the future of millions of students into question mark. Within these difficulties with low infrastructural exposures and highest health risks at a time when India is still trying to recover from its damaged phase, a controversy has emerged over conducting the final exams at educational institutes.
Millions of students along with their parents, political leaders, and activists were demanding to adjourn final exams during this pandemic. However, the government’s firm stand on conducting exams in the given dates has created a serious contention among the stakeholders across the country and informed an emergent situation in the current discourse of education over ongoing “exam emergency”. The study highlights, first how students are perceiving exam emergency, second how traumatic it is/was for preparing for exams while dealing with the uncertainties and fear, third government’s preparedness for taking measures to ensure the safety of student’s health in their respective exam centres.
India’s new academic sessions generally start from July-August after all the semester exams end roughly from April to June. This year due to lockdown, the academic session has already been delayed. Final exams are still pending, new admissions yet to start. Since further delay would lead to zero session, the education ministry is almost convinced to conduct exams. Many have argued that assessment could be done based on student’s previous semester’s performances or internal marks or any other ways without any exams but “if a degree is awarded average marking, a student who has been toiling hard to improved his performance, scores and grading will be deprived of a fair assessment” says an UGC member in an interview.
Over twelve lakh students are expected to appear in class 12th CBSE as well as state board examination where as many are going to appear for various annual entrance exams for admission in many courses among India’s prestigious institutions that include IITs, AIIMs, and other technical and medical institutions along with various reputed central universities, all are lined up to be held from mid-June to August. Students have high chances to be exposed to the virus and how would govt. address health risks to such a huge number of students. Now when these students, which are millions in number will appear for exams how they can be assured that same would not happen again.
Unfortunately, if any wrong happens who would be responsible for driving student’s life at risk, made students and their parents worried about. On the path of proving what Warren Buffet has said “what we learn from history is that people don’t learn from history”. Surprisingly past experiences have also revealed a big question that justifies student’s concern for their health risk. Many important entrance exams have already been postpended to September and October such as UPSC and NEET-PG examinations. Many district authorities in India under various state governments implemented varying degrees of local lockdowns to bate the spreading rate of coronavirus. Due to such local and regional lockdowns, public transport is not available in the required numbers and this is enhancing student’s worries that whether they can afford to appear at exam centre or not.
Many other states of northeast India also have minimal centre choices against a good number of aspirants. In such a situation when many areas are still flooded, public transport is insufficient and centres are not available nearby, students find it hard to appear in their respective centres. So far it is all known that all the delayed exams will be conducted and these will be taken on their given dates but the question remains same, are the students mentally prepared for their
exams in these hazardous moments? How it was to live with the uncertainties when no one knows when and how exams will be taken? How did students feel while preparing for exams dealing with covid fear and difficulties? Authorities seem to overlook these issues and problems faced by students. Due to lockdown and lack of clarity, students remain in constant pressure and stress that builds up anxiety and trauma and affect their level of performance. Will they be able to give their best? It is seen that the government is half prepared and their taken safety measures are not adequate at all. The guidelines issued have not mentioned any safety measures for parents and guardians of students who will be sitting for exams. When they will write their papers, their parents and guardians will wait for outsides and of course, they will be in large numbers.
Nobody has mentioned of their safety and has left them at their peril to manage their safety in their own ways. Back again to student’s safety, all the safety measures, though inadequate are only confined in the exam centre. The guideline states the students will be allowed to enter the centre following social distancing and checking their body temperature with a temperature gun, followed by sanitizing exam halls and other measures. This raise concerns that these steps wouldn’t assure any guarantee for their health safety as if anyone takes fever medicine who has fever before sitting for exam, there would be no validity for monitoring temperature. Some of the respondents who have already given exams last year informed that when they were entering their centres every measure followed perfectly but when they were coming out after the exam, there was no follow-up from authorities.
Students were not even maintaining social distancing. Parents who were waiting outside had to manage their own safety. The best possible solution in present scenario is to avoid contact in-person and conduct the exam in any other better way so that the improvement in decreasing no. of cases in India can go on without any hurdles. For that authorities can opt to online mode of examinations which will be feasible for most of the students and to minimise the chances of cheating or forging and to detect the fraudulent activities during exams companies such as ProctorU can be used by institutions to heighten their exam security. Lastly, they say a single piece of paper can’t decides someone’s future, so why so much emphasis on taking physical pen paper examinations and that it’s the only thing that can prove a student’s competency to get admission into college?
