The possibility of class X students contracting COVID-19 while writing the board examination hit home when government officials learned that a PU student, who had appeared for the English language paper on June 18, was a primary contact of a COVID-19 patient. They spent anxious hours on Friday figuring out damage control protocols.
While the crisis was averted after the girl’s test came out negative, the Department of Primary and Secondary Education is on high alert. It has initiated a slew of measures for the SSLC examinations that are scheduled to begin on June 25.
Anticipating a spike in the number of cases in the next couple of days, several student organisations demanded that the examinations be postponed. Education officials, however, said the examinations will go ahead as planned with more stringent measures in place.
They will work in tandem with the Department of Health and Family Welfare, and cross verify data of people who are in quarantine.
“We will make our database available to the Health Department. They can check if any of the contacts of our students are in institutional quarantine. We will then ask these students to appear for the supplementary examinations,” said S. Suresh Kumar, Minister, Primary and Secondary Education.
While the plan seems sound on paper, education officials feel that such an elaborate exercise would require more time and manpower given that the board examination is less than a week away. “It will be difficult to identify all those who are in quarantine and check the database of students,” said one official. Another factor is the rising number of cases every day.
Mr. Suresh Kumar said that all examination officials have done mock drills to maintain social distancing. “There will be a minimum of 18 students and a maximum of 20 students in one examination hall,” he said, reiterating that all social distancing measures will be taken.
To avoid crowding while entering the examination hall, staff have been asked to reach centres as early as 7 a.m. Students can sanitise themselves and enter the hall by 7.45 a.m.
As many as 8.48 lakh students have registered for the SSLC examinations scheduled to be held between June 25 and July 4.