Education

‘Yet to complete our syllabus’: Students of Class 10, 12 anxious over advancement of exams due to Panchayat polls

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‘Government is playing with the future of our children’

Srinagar: Students of class X and XII are anxious after the JK Government decided to advance the date and conduct their annual exams in first week of November.

Due to the COVID-19 lockdown the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (BOSE) was planning to conduct the annual exams of class X and XII after November 15 so that students will get sufficient time for their preparations.

However, in a recent notification BOSE has decided to advance the date of the exams to the first week of November.

JK BOSE official told Free Press Kashmir that as Panchayat and Urban Local Body elections are likely scheduled in the last week of November, the government has decided to hold annual X and XII class examination earlier to avoid any disturbance in exams.

“We were actually planning to conduct exams from November 15 but in view of this development we had to advance the examination date. We have not framed the date sheet yet,” the official said.

Since the outbreak of coronavirus, schools and other educational institutions were closed and classes were conducted though online medium but with 2G internet connection students have not been able to complete their syllabus yet.

“We have not attended our schools and tuition centers this year due to the continuous COVID-19 lockdown. Our online classes proved futile because most of the students could not afford smart gadgets and if some students had smart phones in their homes, due to the low internet connection they could not connect to their online classes,” said Fiza Ashraf, a class X student.

She said that they were expecting exams after November 15 as was earlier hinted at by BOSE, but the recent notification has worried them.

“We are yet to complete our syllabus and need some more time to prepare and secure a good percentage in exams. Government has not given us any relaxation in syllabus. They just said students have to appear for “70% only” in exams but they did not make it clear which 30% we have to exclude from our syllabus. We have to prepare for 100%,” she added.

Parents are also worried about the future of their children as they are not prepared for annual exams yet.

“Marks of X and XII classes decide the future of children and if their merit is low they will not be eligible for any competitive exams. Government is playing with the future of our children despite knowing that students did not get sufficient time for preparations still they are holding exams early,” said Basharat Ahamd, parent of a class XII student.

Chairperson JKBOSE, Veena Pandita and Secretary BOSE, Maneesha Sareen did not respond to the repeated calls from Free Press Kashmir.

Moreover, College Teachers Association (CAT) has also shown concern and has demanded postponement of X, XI, and XII exams.

“The prevailing circumstances have left students disturbed as they could not receive regular classes in schools and tuition centers. They have not completed even 50% of their syllabus. Many student representatives and parents have approached CTA and demanded postponement of exams till December,” Professor Tariq Ashai, President CTA said in a statement.

He said that postponement of exams would give relief to ‘already stressed’ students and requested Advisor to Lieutenant Governor K K Sharma to take cognizance of the issue and ensure conduct of exams in December.

 

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