What will kill the students first- the education system or the virus?
The Coronavirus pandemic has put the whole world to a stop. Country’s elections have been halted; colleges and workplaces are closed. Courts conduct hearings online. However, the one thing this pandemic has not managed to stop is the typical Indian mentality of ‘exams first’.
Imagine you are a student, having just entered adulthood and now suddenly faced with a dilemma, continuing to be a burden on your parents for at least another year or put their physical well-being in danger.
This is exactly what’s happening with the students of India.
Each year, tens of lakhs of students take competitive exams to get into their preferred colleges. These exams cover a variety such as JEE for a prospective engineer, NEET for students who aspire to be doctors, IPM for students who feel that they have a calling towards the profession of management and many more such exams.
However, as we all know, this year is like no other. India has been crippled by the Coronavirus. Moreover, floods have also tormented the Northern and Eastern areas of the region. With each passing day, the country seems to be observing a record-breaking rise in the number of positive cases.
In spite of all this, the fact that the Supreme Court and the concerned authorities deemed it fit to conduct physical entrance exams, which involves lakhs of students with some precautions is so laughable, it is tragic.
This verdict for all India entrance exams comes even after it was observed in state-level exams where the applicants were significantly less in numbers and the practice of social distancing was a myth. The situation at exam centres looked no less than a Shah Rukh Khan meet-and-greet with his fans.
This is the perfect scenario to illustrate the current happenings amidst the extensive spread of the disease.
Apart from the risk of the infection, a lot of students have centres as far as 500 km away from their homes. Having in mind the lockdown scenario, trains are not running, and most of the aspirants do not have the luxury of acquiring a private vehicle. For students hailing from the flood-affected zones of India, it is nearly impossible for candidates to leave their homes without the direct risk of facing a life or death situation. Exam centres are flooded, the virus is everywhere, aspirants have little to no access to hygienic and safe transportation and lodging. If this is the case, there should be a need to defer exams, shouldn’t it?
There was an appeal to defer exams keeping in mind the present situation, however, the Supreme Court’s verdict shot this appeal down with the claim “Life cannot be stopped.” The verdict also stated that the current pandemic scenario could continue for another year and thus, not reopening educational institutions is a loss for the country and its students.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) has argued that since 85% of the applicants for JEE have downloaded their admit cards, they are keen and ready to take the exam. This argument is absurd, to say the least.
The statement by the Supreme Court is hypocritical. Considering the fact that the very body which is risking the lives of the students and their ageing parents, is conducting their meetings and hearings through a virtual medium with no physical interaction taking place at all, proves to be unfair.
There have been some standard operating procedures present to decrease the chance of contracting the virus, however, these are inadequate. To put things into context, over a dozen people sent by the Chennai Super Kings contingent to the UAE for IPL 2020 have tested positive for the virus. Keep in mind, this event was sponsored by an entity providing world-class facilities and support. If people with access to such superior facilities are getting infected, what will be the plight of students relying on the government’s ageing infrastructure?
Adding on to the hypocrisy of the Court, it took several weeks to reach a verdict about the plight of refugee workers, and in the end, denied help claiming that it would lead to spread of the disease. Won’t forcing the students to give the exam not do the same? Board exams were cancelled when there were 1000s of cases. Now that India ranks top among the countries with the highest count of infections, is it alright for students to give exams? Students have anxiety over career prospects with this exam, as it is, why add to the anxiety with the threat of their health as well as their parents?
Moreover, these competitive exams have been postponed time and again at the last moment, leaving students with even more anxiety about whether the decision to conduct the exams would even be final. A student is under constant stress, why add on to it?
Shouldn’t exams be indefinitely deferred to a time where there is no risk?
We must ask ourselves, “If a single Bollywood actor is doing more to help students, where are we headed to as a nation?”
