ICAI insists on exams, students see Covid safety in red

The Chartered Accounting (CA) exams are scheduled to begin November 21 at 1,100 centers across the country. However, thousands of students have raised questions about the security protocols followed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). They have flooded social media with posts criticizing the agency’s inflexible stance on driving Physical examand noted the increase in cases and closures in cities such as Delhi and Ahmedabad.

One student said that the company secretary and cost accounting institutes have postponed the exams in light of the impending second wave of Covid-19, but the ICAI is adamant in keeping it despite the students’ request to the Supreme Court.

Some students said that when they visited assigned test centers, they found that they were not following the Ministry of Home Affairs Guidelines restrict mass gatherings to a maximum of 200 people or 50 percent of capacity, whichever is less. A test center in Gurgaon has arranged for 750 students at a time. An international school in Gorai has divided two floors into multiple blocks of 20, which will have 400 students in one building at a time.

“This is not a one-day exam. It will continue for 24 days and the ICAI has not communicated what happens if a student is Covid positive after two or three jobs, ”said one student, noting that the ICAI has changed many centers in the last 72 hours. “Will it really be possible to disinfect them?” I ask.

The students posted their protest on twitter

Another problem, the students said, is the lack of transportation in many cities. “The institute must reassure students by taking all safety precautions. Instead, they are giving us the option to opt out and reappear in January. If ICAI had to be so inflexible, it should have taken the exams in May, ”said another student from Mumbai.

ICAI President Atul Kumar Gupta said that the examinations will take place after the approval of the Supreme Court and following the Interior Ministry guidelines for Covid-19.

He said ICAI is not the only one conducting examinations and that even UPSC is doing the same. “In the UPSC exams, more than 400 candidates took an exam center, but we have kept 147 candidates. We have given the option of opting out to students both before and during the exam. However, students are asking questions and abusing ICAI officials on Twitter, ”he said.

On the question that the test centers are far away and will be changed at the last minute, Gupta said: “Last year we had 400 test centers. As for the situation of the pandemic, this time we have increased them to 1,100. If 25 to 30 centers are changed, they are changed because they are in containment zones. ICAI works 24×7 to offer an alternative. ”

He assured the students that a distance of six feet would be kept. “We will also provide masks, disinfectants and temperature guns at the centers,” he said.