'No Board Exams,' Parents Demand Scrapping Of ICSE, CBSE Examinations As Corona Crisis Peaks

Several parents have launched an online campaign hashtagged “StudentLivesMatter”, “LivesOverExams” and “CancelICSEExams” mounting pressure on the board to scrap the exams in the wake of the pandemic

Image: @CancelICSEExams/Twitter

New Delhi: Coronavirus cases are on a rapid rise and this continuous surge in numbers has worried the parents about the pending class 10 and 12 board exams by CBSE and CICSE scheduled from July 1. 'Cancel ICSE Exams' started trending on Twitter on Friday morning after 6 mothers of ICSE students from Delhi launched the Campaign. The initiative garnered huge support within an hour as parents concerned for the safety of the children, demanded to scrap 10th and 12th ICSE pending exams. Four parents have filed a petition in the Supreme Court, urging it to cancel the board exams in the wake of the coronavirus disease, which by Monday had infected more than 3.30 lakh and killed over 9,000 people across the country.

What are the concerns of the parents?

ABP News spoke to Nidhi Mathur whose children will be appearing for 10th and 12th ICSE board exams. She said, "We do not have the infrastructure to conduct these examinations safely. Answer scripts, threads, question papers are handled by a large number of people which increases the chance of COVID-19 exponentially. Is it worth the risk?" She further raised questions on the board regarding the steps to ensure that every student, invigilator, teacher, staff entering every examination centre is not an asymptomatic carrier and will not spread the virus to others. Nidhi said, "Jeopardizing students lives just for the sake of marks? You all aren’t looking out for our future, you are sabotaging it by putting our lives at stake." She also said that students with no personal vehicles will be more exposed to the virus and if by any means they get infected the virus will spread like fire. Parents have also argued that the CBSE has cancelled the examinations of Class 10 and 12 for its around 250 schools situated abroad and has adopted the criteria of awarding marks on the basis of either practical exams conducted or the internal assessment marks, then why similar approach cannot be followed for students in India.

The Alarming Situation

In a recent statement, the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the present situation predicts there will be over 5.5 lakh cases by July.  Delhi is the second-worst affected state and is witnessing the highest surge in the number of infected cases for 10 days. In such a scenario parents and students find it unacceptable that conducting exams would be the right decision as it would invite a gathering of at least 500 students in one exam centre. 1 crore students or more are supposed to complete their Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations and if we add the family members for each student, conducting exams will put around 3 crore lives at risk. Seeing that any improvement in the situation was difficult to predict, Punjab, Telangana and Tamil Nadu have cancelled class 10 exams for their students this year.

What happened in Israel after the schools reopened?

Two weeks after Israel fully reopened schools, a COVID-19 outbreak sweeping through classrooms, including at least 130 cases at a single school, led officials to close dozens of schools where students and staff were infected. At least 244 students and school employees tested positive for the coronavirus. More than 6,800 students and teachers were sent for home quarantine. Israel’s experiment with returning children to schools indicates the amount of risk the children and their families will go through. Though Israel opened the school after the country reported below 50 cases per day, it will be a bigger risk for India when the cases reported are more than 10k every day.

Guidelines by the government to conduct exams

After the government eased lockdown restrictions, the Home Ministry issued guidelines to conduct the exams. The Ministry said that there will be no exam centres in the containment zones. “Wearing of face masks by teachers, staff and students will be mandatory. There shall be provisions of thermal screening and sanitizer at the centres and social distancing rules will have to be followed at exam centres. Special buses may be arranged by states and UTs for transportation of students to exam centres,” the Home Ministry has said. The CBSE has announced that the exams will be conducted in schools where the students were enrolled and not at external centres. Both the boards have also given students an option to change their exam district or state if they have moved to a different place during the lockdown. Also Watch| Know how next lockdown rumors from June 18 are leaving people confused