KOLKATA: After spending a gruelling two hours trying to ‘comprehend’ English comprehension, it was molten cheese they smelt. Soon, gloved and masked canteen staff were approaching their desks with ‘alu’ rolls that also had a fair quantity of cheese inside. While most girls resisted the urge, the boys couldn’t resist digging into the potato and cheese filled rolls. It was nearly a year since they had been to school, after all.
This was a scene at a school on the northern suburbs of Kolkata where a batch of students appeared for their International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) Class-X Board examinations on Monday. None of them had attended a single physical class in Class-X. Most had hardly even stepped out of their homes in the last 11-odd months due to the pandemic. The same was true for children in other schools in Kolkata where the IGCSE Boards began from Monday.
“They are children and most have spent years romping around the campus during better times. It was natural for them to feel strange on entering the premises after so long and that too with severe restrictions. Some children pointed out changes that had taken place to the buildings over the last several months to their parents who accompanied them till the main gates,” a teacher of a school in south Kolkata said.
For schools, these children gave an indication of what to expect when regular classes start for senior students in a week’s time. Restricting movement of students and ensuring social distancing will be a tough task as numbers go up.
Meanwhile, secondary and higher secondary examinations of the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) are also underway at centres across the country.
The NIOS is holding its delayed examinations now. The examinations started on January 22 and will continue till February 15. These examinations were supposed to happen in October and are being held now. The practical examinations are over and these were held between January 15 and 25. An official communication from NIOS said, “The Class-XII examinations were supposed to take place in October 2020, but were delayed. The delay was allowed because of the ongoing Covid situation.” NIOS 12th vocational examinations will be held from February 5 to 26, as per the official communication.