With the CBSE board examinations scheduled to restart in two weeks amidst rising Covid cases in Delhi, schools are gearing up to keep their students and teachers safe during the exams. (Express File Photo by Manoj Kumar)

With the CBSE board examinations scheduled to restart in two weeks amidst rising Covid cases in Delhi, schools are gearing up to keep their students and teachers safe during the exams while the education department said it is still assessing the situation.

The class X and XII examinations, conducted by the national board, were halted in mid-March as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus. The remaining papers are now scheduled to begin on July 1.

According to a CBSE notification, the designated examination centres that students had been allotted before the lockdown will no longer be used and students will write their exams in their own schools.

An education department official said: “The situation in Delhi is a matter of concern and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority will have to deliberate if it is possible to conduct these exams here, and convey the same to the board… After that, we will go by whatever is decided and we can conduct the sanitisation work within a week… hundreds of our schools are also currently engaged as ration distribution centres.”

Nevertheless, schools in the city are gearing up keeping the current schedule in mind.

“The board examinations will give us an overview of our preparedness for eventual re-opening of the school, which is why we are taking our preparation for these exams very seriously. We already prepared our SOP 20 days ago. The entry to the school has thermal screening, and immediately upon entry, there will be two-three touchless hand-washing stations. Our speakers will periodically remind students to maintain social distance, and we have drawn markers on the floor, indicating the direction in which children should walk to streamline their movement,” said Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu Public School, Rohini.

While schools are preparing, there is also concern on whether exams should be conducted given the prevailing circumstances. “I will be placing masks and water jugs outside each classroom. The children’s hands will be sanitised outside the gates,” said the principal of a government school in Rohini.