Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Friday slammed the Central Board of Secondary Education for holding exams amid the Covid-19 spike across the country.
Calling the educational administration downright irresponsible, Gandhi tweeted that board exams should either be cancelled, rescheduled, or arranged in a manner that does not require the physical presence of children at crowded exam centers under the prevailing circumstances.
Gandhi’s tweet comes in support of more than one lakh students who have been demanding for the postponement of the CBSE board exam 2021. The students of class 10 and 12 have signed petitions urging the CBSE, and government to either cancel board exams scheduled to be held in May or conduct them in online mode in view of disturbing revival in infections across the country. The hashtag “cancelboardexams2021” has also been trending on Twitter over the past few days.
According to the revised date sheet for CBSE board exams 2021, the class 10 exams will be held between May 4 and June 7. And for class 12, the exams are scheduled between May 4 and June 15.
India is crossing the 1-lakh mark daily in the number of Covid-19 cases over the past few days. As of Friday morning, the daily number of cases reached up to 1.31 lakh, taking the total tally to 1,30,60,542.
While the coronavirus is ravaging our country again, the added pressure of exams is bound to affect the mental health of children said Gandhi adding that our education system needs to drastically alter its attitude and start reflecting sensitivity and compassion towards children rather than just talk about it at their conclaves and conferences.
Meanwhile, reacting to the students’ demand, a CBSE official had said as per Covid guidelines the number of exam centres has been increased by 40-50 percent to ensure students are safe. The staff at exam centres is also being sensitised to ensure all guidelines are followed. Also, the administration has been creating awareness among students and parents to follow all Covid safety guidelines, the official added.