The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has written to Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee — and CMs of all other states — seeking permission to reopen schools from January 4, 2021 for students of Class X and Class XII before their board examinations, reports Somdatta Basu.
This is necessary to provide ample time for practical classes and project work, for which actual student-teacher interaction is necessary, the letter, signed by CISCE chief executive and secretary Gerry Arathoon, says.
Arathoon — who had said last week that the board examinations would most likely be deferred to June — later told TOI that the examinations would most likely be pen-and-paper. On Wednesd-ay, CBSE, too, had announced that its exams would be held in the usual analogue format.
“With students physically attending school, the time will be utilized for practical work, project work, socially useful productive work and for clearing doubts. This will be extremely beneficial to the students who will get time to interact directly with teachers,” Arathoon has written.
The council has given its assurance that schools affiliated to it will follow Covid-19 directives of the state government and conform to safety guidelines and standard operating procedures of the state health department.
“Students need some amount of classes to appear for practical examinations,” Arathoon later said. “The examinations will be pen and paper tests, as there are challenges in conducting an online board exam because of connectivity issues. Some students have even used smartphones while attending classes. But how can an online board examination be conducted on mobile phones?”
The council has also requested the chief election commissioner of India to share tentative election dates of states that are going to polls next year, in order to avoid exam dates clashing with elections. Bengal, which is scheduled to have assembly elections next summer, has the largest number of schools affiliated to CISCE in the country.
School teachers and administrators welcomed the council’s move. “Most principals feel that schools should reopen,” said Raja McGee, principal of Calcutta Boys School and secretary of Methodist School in Dankuni. “We already have a staggered attendance plan in place. When schools reopen, all SOPs and social distancing norms will be maintained on campus,” he assured.
Pointing out that it was virtually impossible to conduct practical classes online, the principal said students required hands-on experience. “We have to train our children to live with this virus. Life has to return to normal. We can’t keep students isolated forever. We will allow 15 students in the laboratory at a time. The labs will be sanitised before students come in and after they leave,” he said.
Another school principal said classes were the need of the hour. “Schools and students are eagerly looking forward to resuming classes once there is a go-ahead from the state government. We have already received several requests from parents,” he said.
The chief minister had indicated last month that schools were unlikely to reopen anytime soon. The decision to resume on-campus classes from December at even higher education institutes received a setback after there were reports of outbreaks among schoolchildren in states where face-to-face interactions had restarted.
Some states — such as Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Andhra Pradesh — have resumed on-campus classes.