21 May 2020  |   05:36am IST

Now, stay calm and do your best

Now, stay calm and do your best

After staying home and staying safe for two months, 19,680 Class X students will go back to school to answer their Board exam. To the Class X students, who will finally sit for the SSC exam, the start of the test will bring some relief as they were scheduled to answer the exam in April, but it was indefinitely postponed due to the lockdown arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. But, simultaneously with the relief,there comes a good bit of tension as it is not going to be an easy exam for the students. Though most students will be answering the exam in their own schools, there will be other pressures working on their minds. They will be answering the exam in not the most salubrious of conditions, as the number of COVID-19 cases in the State keeps rising.

For a brief period of time it did appear that the SSC exams could get postponed again as the High Court was petitioned on the matter but it had ruled in favour of the exams. A review petition citing the changed circumstances of new COVID-19 cases, went down to the wire, but finally the Union Ministry of Home Affairs came to the rescue of the State government by allowing the exams to be held after taking certain precautions. These include no exam centre in containment zones, the mandatory wearing of masks by teachers, staff and students, provision of thermal screening and sanitisers at centres and social distancing at the examination centres. Added to this are the guidelines of Goa Board of secondary and Higher Secondary Education that places a lot of responsibility on schools in the conduct of the exams. 

Schools in the State will now have to ensure that there is transport for the students to reach the exam centres, by making available buses for the students, in which attendants will ensure social distancing. It doesn’t end there. The children who come on their own will be dropped by their parents or guardians about 200 metres away from the school, from where volunteers will walk them to their centres. There will be a staggered entry and exit of students to maintain social distancing norms, which means that the children will have to report to the centre well ahead of the exam time. Most importantly, students will be answering the exam wearing masks, which though extremely important in the current circumstances, is not a conducive in the current weather.

The government and the Goa Board have assured that all precautions will be taken to keep the students answering the exams safe. As a dress rehearsal on Wednesday one of the pending HSSC papers has been answered by students and on the first day of the SSC exam it will be just 365 students who will answer the exam as it is a pre-vocational paper. The government has time of a few days to gear up for when the over 19,000 students make it to the exam centre, it should utilise these days and the experience it gets in the best possible manner to make it a safe environment for the children. 

For the SSC students now, it is time to put behind the uncertainity of the past few days and enter the exam hall with a fresh and clear mind. This is important so that they are in a position to deliver of their best. The result of the exam will lead the students to the next stage of their scholastic career where they choose between the Arts, Science, Commerce and Vocational streams. Many have already made up their minds on the path they will take, those with professional courses in mind having even secured admission in the coaching classes that prepare students for the entrance exams. 


IDhar UDHAR

Idhar Udhar