Without having attended a single physical class this year and with no signs of schools reopening, Class X and XII students are fraught with stress, all of them wondering if they will be able to manage board exams having only attended online classes. Riya Dikshit, a Class X student at a government school, expressed the wish of all the students when she said, “I hope we have physical classes before they send us to write the board exams.”
Haunted by anxiety, Vivek, a student at Sarvodaya Vidyalaya Government Co-ed, Sector 8 Rohini, asked: “I was reading that some states have moved up their board exams to May. Do you think CBSE will do the same?” He said that it was easier to clarify doubts with the teachers in the classroom. Vivek is using an app called Doubtnet to clear up confusion. “If the app can’t address my concern, I have to call my teacher,” he said. He is nervous about the exams because his father was unable to pay for private tuition due to financial problems at home caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Unlike Vivek, who uses a tablet given to him by the Delhi government to get good marks on his X-Class exams, Mohini relies on his mobile phone. Madanpur Khadar, a student in class XII of the government upper secondary school for girls, despaired: “I am very worried about how I am going to write my board exams.”
She initially missed some classes because she had to share the family phone with her brother, who is also in Class XII. “Our teacher sent us voice notes on WhatsApp and that’s how I was studying at the time,” she said. “Then an NGO helped me find a sponsor for a phone. My family also contributed, and this is how I can attend classes online now.” But you still have to divert the money you received to buy textbooks to recharge your data pack.
It’s not that just public school students are sweating from exams. Darshan Ram, a Class XII commerce student at Bluebells School International, said: “Now it has become quite disturbing. In online classes, one cannot be mentally present at all times, even if physically present. The lack of connection makes it easy to lose focus. ” For Ram, math and accounting are a special challenge. He takes private lessons for these subjects, but is online again.
Ram lists the exam evaluation as another headache.
“I am really concerned. Due to the reduction of the curriculum, everyone will do well and the competition for university openings will be intense,” said the young man. Additionally, in our weekly tests and semester exams, all three-hour assignments allowed half that time for multiple-choice questions and the other half for subjective questions. In actual exams, however, subjective questions take longer to answer. ”
All institutions, government or private, have been conducting these assessments, but students claim that the tests do not look real as they are being written at home.
For Verma, although relieved that the news about the exams was false, the practical exams still weigh on his mind. As a PCM student with computer science, you don’t know how you will present yourself for the practical exams in chemistry and physics, which are weighted at 30 points. “If the board decides to change the way the road tests are conducted, then that’s fine. Otherwise I’m in trouble,” Verma muttered.
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