Educators and experts in the field agree growing Covid surge is a difficult time for students, suggest ways to reduce anxiety and prepare for college future.
New Delhi: For Hetal Shah, a Class 12 student in a private school in Gujarat, March 2020 was full of anxiety and fear. The batch senior to hers waited for months to write their final papers as the Covid-19 pandemic gripped the country and board exams were postponed. Shah was left wondering if fate would have the same in store for her. It certainly did. As her own board exams approached, India began registering a massive number of cases, and many boards, including the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the Council for Indian School Certificate Exams (CISCE), the International Baccalaureate (IB) and state boards, have postponed their exams without hinting when they will be held. And now, students like Hetal are back to a state of confusion and anxiety. The only difference this year is that schools and education experts have had time to figure out how to help students tide over the crisis. After conducting classes online for almost a year, schools believe they are prepared to deal with any learning disruptions that might arise in future, and are advising students how to keep calm. Educators’ advicePadma Srinivasan, principal of Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram, New Delhi, said: “Relax for a few days at home and restart the preparation all over again. You should honestly attempt the online tests prepared by your school and work on your weaknesses and strengths before the exams and success will surely be yours.” Alka Kapur, principal of Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh, also asked students to keep their morale up and focus on studies. “They should not let this news lower their morale. They should keep preparing themselves for the upcoming entrance exams as well as the board exams,” she said. Kapur also recommended that students start with self-assessment and do a complete subject-wise revision, solve test papers and take mock tests, and read references to gain a better understanding. She also requested parents to take an active role in helping them. Dr Mona Lisa Bal, chairperson, KiiT International School in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, added that students should now focus on strategically planning their schedule. “This decision will have an impact on the students’ psychology, and some might get disheartened after preparing for their exams for over a year now. Focus on the directions given by the teachers and systematically appear in tests. Believe in yourself and focus on academics,” she advised. Dr Bijaya Kumar Sahoo, adviser and working president, Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya Sangathan, said students should not worry about anything because the government is taking all necessary steps for their protection. “The cancellation (Class 10) and the postponement (Class 12) of CBSE board examinations is a step towards the safety of our future. Students should not stress; in fact, I would suggest take a deep breath and listen to some good classical music to relax your brain… Revise what all you had studied for the exams and also keep practicing for your upcoming competitive exams,” said Sahoo. Students should use tech to their benefitExperts in the education technology space, meanwhile, suggest students can go for online study material, take mock tests and prepare themselves for the board exams and their college entrances. “Students can use this time to evaluate their preparedness in more creative ways. There is a wealth of engaging material online that they can use to cross reference their understanding of subjects and concepts, take mock tests and read up on strategies to better prepare themselves for the boards,” said Divya Lal, managing director of Fliplearn, an online subscription-based teaching and learning platform. “There are a number of learning apps that facilitate these activities and students can take advantage of the extra time they have on their hands now,” she said. Lal advised that at the same time, students must also ease off a bit and proactively pursue and extra-curricular activities, like a hobby or a project, or learn a new skill. “Anything that interests them can become a good psychological counterbalance to the stress associated with exam preparation,” she said. Rohit Jain, CEO and co-founder of DUX Education, a live tutoring platform for ‘K-12’ students (those from kindergarten to Class 12) said exams and marks are very small events if one looks at the big picture. “I am sure that most of the students would have already prepared for their exams and 15 days is good enough to revise again for exams,” he said, referring to the boards saying the schedule for the exams will be announced at least two weeks before they begin. “At this stage, what they need to do most is to ensure that they resume their learning journey outside the course books. Health comes first, and so, all of this follows some rest which is critical for kids. No one can deny that this has been a tough year for them,” Jain added. Santanu Mishra, co-founder & executive trustee of Smile Foundation, an NGO that works for the education of children from poor families, said it is essential that Class 10 students whose board exams have been cancelled continue to learn through any means available to them. “We must ensure continued learning for students. Those in Class 12 whose exams have been postponed must continue learning through any means available to them — smartphones, tablets, television sets, radio and even through feature phones. This kind of blended learning is most effective. The situation is trying, but students mustn’t lose hope and should continue to pursue learning,” Mishra said. Smile Foundation has helped students from underprivileged families keep learning through the pandemic with its ‘Shiksha Na Ruke’ initiative. Online exams Some experts also suggested that the authorities should switch to online exams and adopt appropriate methods to ensure fairness. Anuj Jindal, CEO of AJC EduTech, said the intention behind cancelling and postponing exams is noble. However, postponing the exams has a ripple effect on the future of students, which authorities often ignore. “Lack of synchronisation between schools and colleges would leave many students out of higher education in the next one year,” Jindal said.“The solution lies in adapting fast to the changing conditions by using digital mediums to conduct examinations in a fair manner. If government examinations like those for RBI & SEBI can be conducted online, board examinations can also be conducted online using similar technology. This will ensure that the future of our youth is not wasted, in a competitive environment where every year is crucial,” he added. (Edited by Shreyas Sharma)
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On April 14, after a meeting attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, a decision was taken to cancel the Class 10 Board exams and postpone the Class 12 exams. It was also decided that the Class 10 results will be arrived at on the basis of an internal assessment, as devised by the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education). For Class 12, however, the situation will be reviewed on June 1 and there will be a notice of at least 15 days before holding the board exams.
In recent weeks, social media had been abuzz with campaigns seeking to have the 2021 CBSE exams for Classes 10 and 12 cancelled. On Twitter, the hashtag #cancelboardexams2021 has been trending; on change.org, over 100,000 students from Classes 10 and 12 have signed a petition asking the government to either cancel the exams or hold them online. The campaign also found support from some public figures. Stuti Kapoor, a Class 10 student from Mumbai, who had been campaigning for exams to be cancelled, is relieved by the decision and feels that assessing students internally is a sound move. However, Tanisha Kohli, a Class 12 student from Gurugram who wanted the exams cancelled, is worried that the decision to postpone exams may impact her university admissions after schooling. Over 2.1 million students were scheduled to appear for the Class 10 CBSE board exams while over 1.4 million were supposed to take the Class 12 exams. “With the fast spread of Covid, conducting the board examinations would not have been a good idea,” says Manit Jain, co-founder of The Heritage School, Gurugram. Mona Lisa Bal, chairperson, KIIT International School, considers it an “imperative step”. “The second wave of Covid-19 is affecting children more and conducting exams involving lakhs of students would have only increased the risk,” says Bal. Agreeing that student well-being and not aptitude is the need of the hour, Ajeenkya DY Patil, president, Ajeenkya DY Patil University, and chairman, DY Patil Group, says that while examinations had to be rescheduled, the learning continues as before. Given the surge in Covid cases, the decision is a great relief for hundreds of thousands of students. The wait now will be for the objective criteria to be developed by the CBSE for preparing the Class 10 results. Concerns, however, remain about the Class 12 exams being postponed. “For Class 12, June will not be a conducive month for holding exams as students would be looking forward to competitive entrance exams as well as admission to Indian or international universities,” says Bijaya Kumar Sahoo, founder-mentor at the Sai International Education Group. It’s important to ensure that the pandemic minimally impacts the education and careers of students. “It’s time for students to strategically plan their schedule, focus on the directions given by teachers and systematically appear in tests,” says Bal. For those who may be feeling disheartened after preparing for exams for over a year, Bal has some advice—believe in yourself and focus on academics as all the preparation done now will be beneficial in the future. On the one hand is the consideration of students’ safety in the pandemic and on the other hand, the situation is undoubtedly challenging for the Class 12 students, who are at a critical juncture of their scholastic years and could experience a burnout while continuously preparing due to postponement/ cancellation of exams. Vinesh Menon, CEO, Ampersand Group, suggests, “The education ministry should use this postponement period to build a Plan B to conduct Class 12 exams within a fixed time frame, irrespective of how the Covid situation changes. Secondly, while enabling auto promotion of students from Class 10 to 11, they should simulate the question papers digitally and share them with the students to self-evaluate and upload the answers onto a portal for future records.” Implementing a Plan B for Class 12 students, on the other hand, will give clarity to parents, teachers, students and school managements, who can support the government to successfully implement the plan should the current situation continue, feels Menon. Sharing a simulated question paper for Class10 will help keep up the spirit of self-learning and assessment by the students, who despite getting auto-promoted will have a chance to simulate Class 10 exams and record their responses with CBSE. The CBSE board exams 2021 were cancelled for class 10 and postponed for class 12 on Wednesday due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The situation would be reviewed on June 1 and a decision on the class 12 board exams will be taken hereafter.
The results of the CBSE class 10 board exam would be prepared on the basis of an objective criterion and students who are not happy with the marks they receive would be allowed to appear for an exam later on when the situation is conducive. With the resurgence of Covid-19, schools have been shut in 11 states. We got talking to a few experts from schools, colleges, edtech companies and other education institutions to know their take on the cancellation and postponement of the CBSE board exams. Here’s what they had to say. Padma Srinivasan, Principal, Delhi Public School Rk Puram:“In these unprecedented times, the government has found the most viable option. It is the best decision taken towards minimising the risk of spreading the deadly coronavirus amongst students, teachers, employees of the school and their immediate families.” Vivek Jain, Chief Business Officer, Shiksha.com: “Postponement of the CBSE board exam for class 12 and cancellation of the board exam for class 10 is the need of the hour considering the rapid surge in Covid cases across the country. Preparing the result of Class 10 board on the basis of objective criterion developed by the Board and providing an opportunity for unsatisfied students to sit for an exam as and when the conditions are conducive to hold the exams is a very thoughtful decision by the Education Ministry in this critical situation.” Vinay Sharma, Head of Digital Services, S.Chand and Co. :“As the second wave of Covid-19 is impacting more children and people across the country than before, the recent decision of the board authorities is a welcome step in alleviating students and parents concern about offline examination. Also, the ‘new normal’ education system has opened doors for blended learning which is going to stay in the future and is not just a stop-gap arrangement.” Divya Lal, Founder and Managing Director, Fliplearn: “We welcome the Government of India’s decision to do away with CBSE class 10 board exams and postpone class 12 board exams. Safety of our children is the first and foremost priority. We stand united with students and the school community. Ed tech has already played a significant role in supplementing school education during the disruption caused by the pandemic. It is clear that a co-adjuvant model with complementary roles of traditional school education and online education is our best bet until the situation improves.” Prajodh Rajan, Co-Founder and Group CEO, EuroKids International: “As the current examination cycle is upon us, and the second wave of Covid-19 is impacting more people and children across the country than before, the recent decision of the CBSE Board authorities to cancel Class 10 examinations and postpone Class 12 examinations is a welcome step in alleviating students' and parents' concerns about offline examinations. While today’s announcement offers much relief, the Class 12th students remain on tenderhooks as to when their year will close. This postponement of their examinations will impact college admissions for the coming year, as the exam, paper checking and results announcements remain open.” Dr Mona Lisa Bal, Chairperson, KiiT International School:“Cancelling the class 10 and postponing the 12th board exams is a positive move from the health perspective. With the alarming rise in the number of daily cases in the country, it was but an imperative step. However, we also must make sure that the pandemic does not have any more negative impact on the children’s education and career. Therefore, internal assessments should be the criterion for now. Entrance exams like JEE and NEET can be conducted later for students once situation is under control. It is time for the students to strategically plan their successful schedule. This decision will also have an impact on the students’ psychology, and some might get disheartened after preparing for their exams for over a year now. Believe in yourself and focus on academics. We would urge students not to give up on the preparation of today, as it will be very beneficial for the results of tomorrow.” Dr. Dishan Kamdar, Vice Chancellor, FLAME University: “While the CBSE Board's decision to postpone the class 12 examination will help provide relief for students in this second wave of the pandemic, this will however impact colleges and universities. Like all higher education institutions, we will have to assess the admission cycles and processes for the incoming 2021-2022 batch to accommodate the postponement of class 12 final examinations.” Zishaan Hayath, CEO, Toppr.com:“ I think this is the right decision by the Government in view of the current Covid-19 situation. With schools and colleges also closed right now in most cities, it is important for schools and students to maintain continuity in learning virtually. We hope that the situation improves soon.” Anuj Jindal, CEO, AJC EdTech Platform: “Postponing the exams has a ripple effect on the future of students, which is often ignored by the authorities. Lack of sync between schools and colleges would leave many students out of higher education in the next one year. We are already witnessing the same problem in government examinations which are not considering a delay in college exams and demanding that all students be graduates before a certain date (which is impossible due to Covid-19). The solution lies in adapting fast to the changing conditions by using digital mediums to conduct examinations in a fair manner. If government examinations like RBI and SEBI can be conducted online, board examinations can also be conducted online at home using similar technologies. This will ensure that the future of our youth is not wasted in a competitive environment where every year is crucial.” Vaibhav Singh, Co-Founder, Leap: “The delayed CBSE board exam results will lead to a potentially crunched timeline for students planning to pursue UG courses abroad. The impact should be less for US aspirants since most US colleges have a fairly holistic approach in admissions with a relatively lower weight on just the board results. However, for countries like the UK and Australia, board results are a more important input. These countries though offer conditional admits which get confirmed once the board results are shared. The delay in the results this year would mean the time window between admission confirmation and course commencement in these countries will be shorter; students are therefore advised to keep everything else, visa documentation, financing, etc. ready, so that they can act quickly once confirmation is received. Indian students are important community members on global college campuses, so I expect colleges to be fully supportive through more relaxed requirements/ timelines to ensure bright Indian students can enroll with them this Fall. The delayed board results will obviously have no impact on students moving abroad for Masters or Postgraduate programmes. These form the lion-share of Indian students studying abroad and hence overall expect the study abroad market to have a very strong year given the pent-up demand from 2020.” As the government announced the cancellation of class X CBSE board exam, social media platforms were flooded with reactions from across the country. Because of the second wave of Covid-19, closure of schools and taking account of the safety and well-being of the students, the government has decided to cancel the class X board exams, while class XII exams will be held after reviewing the situation on June 1. The government has also decided to give a notice of at least 15 days before the start of the examinations.
Rudra Paritosh Pandey, a class X student at Bihar Central School, Buxar, got disheartened to know about the cancellation exams. “The exam must have happened. It creates healthy competition among students and inspires us to do better than our peers. A formal exam offers a fairly accurate assessment of our learning abilities,” says Rudra. The decision will hit hard those students and teachers who have been doing hard work to prepare for the annual examination, he said. “Cancellation is better than repeated rescheduling the exam. The decision has offered us a clear picture. Now, we can prepare for the next class without worrying about the exam,” says Soumya Jain, class X student of Delhi-based St Xavier Senior Secondary School. Ansha Tripathi, class X student at St Francis School, Ghaziabad, regrets missing on her first experience of writing the board exams. “So far we have been writing exams locally in the school. Going through the boards helps us to be more confident. Not appearing for the class exam might create hurdles for us after two years while appearing for class XII and other competitive exams,” says Ansha. Board exams for class X was scheduled to be held from May 4 to June 14, 2021. Now, the results of class X board will be prepared on the basis of an objective criterion to be developed by the Board. Any candidate who is not satisfied with the marks allocated to him/her on this basis will be given an opportunity to sit in an exam as and when the conditions are conducive to hold the exams. Mona Lisa Bal, chairperson, KiiT International School says that decision is a positive move from the health perspective. “With the alarming rise in the number of daily cases, it was but an imperative step. It has been seen that the second wave of Covid is affecting children more and they are also showing signs of the disease physically and hence conducting examinations with lakhs of students would have only increased the risk. However, we also must make sure that the pandemic does not have any more negative impact on the children’s education and career. Therefore, internal assessments should be the criterion for now. Entrance exams like JEE and NEET can be conducted later once situation is under control,” says Bal. “While ideally, board exams provide fairly accurate assessment of a student’s intellect and learning, these are unprecedented times and the health safety of students cannot be compromised with. It is observed that the infection is spreading even in young children, hence it was not advisable to conduct offline exams. The postponement of class XII exams was also inevitable in light of the rising cases of the coronavirus in India. I hope the situation improves soon and more people are vaccinated. This will evade the uncertainty over class XII exams, “ says Shishir Jaipuria, chairman, Seth Anandram Jaipuria Group ofEducational Institutions, Ghaziabad. Impact on colleges, universities “While the CBSE's decision to postpone the class XII examination will help provide relief to students in the second wave of the pandemic, this will, however, impact colleges and universities. Like all higher education institutions, we will have to assess the admission cycles and processes for the incoming 2021-2022 batch to accommodate the postponement of class XII final examinations,” says Dishan Kamdar, vice chancellor, FLAME University. |
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