Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday said it was “irresponsible” for education boards such as the Central Board of Secondary Education to conduct exams despite the worsening coronavirus situation in the country.
“It is downright irresponsible of boards like the CBSE to force students to sit for exams under the prevailing circumstances,” Vadra said. “Board exams should either be cancelled, rescheduled or arranged in a manner that does not require the physical presence of children at crowded exam centres.”
In another tweet, the Congress leader said that while the coronavirus pandemic was “ravaging” the country again, the added pressure of exams was bound to affect the mental health of children. “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.”
The CBSE board exams will be held in an offline mode from May 4 to June 7 for Class 10 and from May 4 to June 15 for Class 12, reported PTI. Students have protested against the holding of exams and over one lakh of them have signed a petition to the CBSE in this regard.
The officials of the education board, however, have said that exam centres across the country have been increased by about 50% to maintain physical distancing among students.
India on Friday registered yet another record surge in coronavirus infections after 1,31,968 new cases were reported in 24 hours. The country’s overall infection count rose to 1,30,60,542 since March 2020. Deaths went up by 780, driving the toll in India to 1,67,642 since March last year. The active caseload stood at 9,79,608.
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