Should All Exams be cancelled ?

  Hello, friends! After seeing the rapidly increasing cases of corona virus infection, the students and the opposition politicians demanded recently for board exams to be cancelled. And finally,the government has agreed to it. It was decided that the class 10th board exam would be cancelled. And the class 12th board exams will be postponed. 

The majority of students are pleased with this decision. But there is a section of parents and students who are displeased with it. Was this decision right or wrong? If wrong, what decision should the government have taken? Let's get to know. The Education Ministry has said that the 10th board results of this year will be evaluated on objective criteria. It is assumed that the objective criteria will be based on internal assessment. Some people would argue that the students who have studied hard for the board exams they would be at a disadvantage here;the hardworking students. 

Because they prepared for the board exams for the whole year and now everyone would be declared passed on the basis of internal assessment. And the students who aren't as good at studies will be at an advantage. The government had, fortunately, considered this. Because the government has given an option to the students. Those who aren't happy with the results of the objective criteria, on the basis of the internal assessment, they can opt for taking the board exams at a later date. 

Whenever the exams will be held in the future. So it's not like it's been cancel for everyone. The government has given an option. Those students who still want to take the board exam in class 10th can do so. The government has taken a good decision. The second decision has been to postpone the class 12th CBSE exams. The date when they'll start hasn't been declared yet. But the government has said that this situation will be re-evaluated on 1st June and on that basis, the dates for conducting the exams would be decided. 

Many students aren't happy with this. Because the students were expecting that because the class 10th exams have been cancelled, so the class 12th exams would also be. The reason behind the government not doing so is very simple. The results of the class 10th board exams do not matter as much. In life or career or anytime in the future. But the class 12th results are the basis on which admission to colleges and universities are taken. So its value is much higher in the lives and careers of the students. Some students argue thatpostponing the exams would create more stress and tension for the students. And puts a lot of uncertainties in the future. 

Fortunately, the government has taken a good decision for this as well. The government has said that any date that'll be set in the future, will be informed to students at least 15 days before. It would not be that the government will suddenly declare that the exam would be the next day or the next week. They will give a time of 15 days,which, again, is a good thing. Why isn't postponing the exam a good idea? There are some arguments in its favour as well. Let's see these arguments. The first argument is that no one knows how long will the covid-19 last. Last year when postponing exams were being discussed it was understandable because it was the first wave. But now it has been almost one year since the wave began. When will this infection peak? How long will it continue? By when will everyone be vaccinated?No one knows.

 If the Covid-19 situation deteriorates in the future, it will create more uncertainties for the students. If the exams would be postponed even further, their mental health would suffer. Another argument is that if the exams keep on getting postponed, it will become impossible for the students to take admission in international colleges and universities. Because the results of the 12th board exams are needed there. The question now arises;what can be done? Should the exams be taken online? But online exams isn't a good option because there are so many students who come from poor families. who do not have an access to a smartphone or a good internet connection. So this will be a terrible optionto conduct online exams. 

So which option remains? One thing is undeniable that today the situation is so unprecedented and unique irrespective of what the government decides, it will be next to impossible to satisfy everyone. 

Everyone would not be happy with the decision because the situation is like that. The opinions of people would defer. Some people would say that the exams should be conducted now even in this situation. Some will say that postponing the exams will be better. Some would say that the exams should have been cancelled altogether. It depends on your opinion. What is your opinion? Write in the comments below. In my opinion, friends, cancelling the 12th exams would've been a better decision. The students should've beengiven an option. Either their internal assessment would be the basis of calculating the 12th results. Or the second option, for those who are not happy with the internal assessment, should've been given an option for appearing in the board exams. And the board exams should've been held. With this, the majority crowd which appear for the exams would've been avoided. If fewer people appear for the exams, the original reason for cancelling the exams,the spread of the coronavirus, would diminish to quite an extent. Obviously, when I talk about the exam cancellation, I am talking about the CBSE exams only. 

The government has nottaken a decision for ICSE. Nor have the State Boards taken a decision in many states. I hope that decisions for these exams would be declared soon. So that the students are not kept in uncertainty. And the mental health of the students does not suffer. It will be interesting to understand the whole issue and to see how the other countries are dealing with this problem. Among other countries as well, some countries are cancelling their exams, some are postponing, and in some countries, the exams are conducted in different styles. Like in Italy. The Italian government has decided that the end of school exams for this year, will be conducted orally only. Only oral tests will take place and the written tests have been cancelled. 

On the other hand, in France, it has been decided that the final high school exams would be more or less completely cancelled. and the students will be evaluated and graded based on continuous assessment. It means the performance of the students throughout the year plus extra course work would be given. Third, there some countries like Japan which has decided that the exams would neither be postponed nor cancelled. Instead, they will continue conducting the exams like before but with extra precautions. 

Whatever the decision may be,one thing is certain that this whole crisis has forced the education system to think from a new perspective. I hope that all the government will think from the perspective of the students and in favour of the students. And will take such decisions that show certainty and consistency. Sudden decisions should not be taken that create more confusion in the minds of the students.