The urgency in conducting Class 10 examination is also a violence against the student community, said S.C. Natraj, Director of Service Unit for Development Activities in Rural (SUDAR), a Sathyamangalam-based NGO, who wanted examinations to be postponed and regular classes be conducted for students at least for 15 days.
While online classes were conducted for students of private schools, students in rural areas, whose parents lost their livelihood due to lockdown, need revisions and they need to attend the schools.
Mr. Natraj said that a few students in hilly areas of Bargur and Kadambur had gone with their parents for sugarcane cutting and are yet to return homes.
Also, operating buses for students in remote areas that has no road connectivity is not practically possible, he said.
“Commuting in hilly areas, particularly in Kongadai and Osur, is always a challenge for students, he said.”
A government school teacher at Devarmalai in Bargur hills said that many of his students could not be contacted over phone on Wednesday as their villages have no mobile connectivity. “There are 71 SSLC students in the school and I could contact only 40 students to inform about the examinations”, he said and added that many students are living in relatives houses during the lockdown.
“Students have not touched their books in the past two months and asking them to write the examination in 15 days will result in dropouts”, he said,.
An office-bearer of Tamil Nadu Postgraduate Teachers Association said, "the whole idea sounds impractical. With COVID-19 cases on the rise, how would the government conduct examinations in cities like Chennai.”