As schools move online, parents concerned over e-exams

Bhubaneswar: With schools closed and lessons being conducted remotely, students and their parents are worried over the soon-to-be-held online examinations.
Parents said their children were either missing or not paying proper attention in classes, which might affect their scores. The parents added that the children might face connection issues, overlapping time slots and shortage of devices during the exams.
“I am excited and nervous as I will sit for an online examination for the first time. Though we haven’t faced much issues during online classes, exams are different,” Parth Senapati, a class-III student, said.
Some parents, who have more than one kid, said with their shifts starting from morning there could be problems over the availability of devices at a given time.
“What if my office meeting falls at the time when my two children — one in Class X and another in Class VI — are having their online tests? Where will I get three different devices from? We have requested the teacher to consider taking the exam of the younger child later,” Prajna Samal, a parent, said.
While many schools gave objective questions in the exams, a few were asking students to write their exams under the surveillance of a camera.
“We have made the children revise the chapters and sit for mock tests. They will not face any problem while appearing for the exams,” Anima Subudhi, a teacher of Kendriya Vidyalaya-1, said.
“Online classes often get disrupted due to poor connectivity. Children keep complaining about the sound or video quality. If the net gets disconnected while writing the papers, students may get scared and not be able to finish it,” Manoj Patnaik, another parent, said.
Some schools have already started oral and project tests for the half-yearly exams. “In the oral tests, teachers had asked the students to look towards the roof while answering the questions so that there was no cheating. But what about the written tests? How can they ensure zero cheating then,” Alaka Pradhan, a parent, said.
Nibedita Rath said teachers were hopeful and optimistic to face the new challenge. “Children will be able to adapt to the new system of online examinations. There may be some problems but we are trying our best to adjust so that the exams are conducted successfully,” she added.