COVID-19: Exams or Health? CBSE, ISC Students on Postponed Exams

Both CBSE and CISCE have postponed board exams till 31 March as a precautionary measure against coronavirus.

(The Quint/Kamran Akhter)

Video Editor: Abhishek Sharma

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations' decision to postpone all examinations till 31 March has generated a mixed response from students, most of whom have only one or two exams left.

Class XII student Aditya Ranjan, who had only one exam left, says that although he is a little upset at the exams being postponed, he’s trying to find solace in the fact that he will now have more time to prepare for JEE. Along with CBSE, JEE exams scheduled in April were postponed to avoid any overlap between the two.

"I have only one exam of Infomatic Practices left, which has been postponed until 31 March. I am feeling bad as I had worked really hard but now the exam has been postponed. But the good thing is that I will get more time for the JEE entrance examination."

Aditya Ranjan, Class XII student

Class XII student Tanvi Madan, who only had her Business Studies paper left, says that she is not happy with exams being postponed as this means that students will not get any relief in the coming two weeks.

“We were already under stress for a long time because of exams and now it has been extended further. We will face difficulties in admissions. Dates for competitive exams will be pushed further for which students will have to keep studying,” she laments.

She is echoed by ISC student Meghna Bhadra, who said that apart from impacting entrance exams, delayed exams mean that students cannot really relax as they will always have the lingering thought of that one remaining exam.

Health Over Exams

But while most students are tense about having to study for a longer period, some feel that health is more important. Class XII Student Aadya, who too has only one exam left, said although other vacation plans were cancelled, it is more important to focus on the health of students and teachers.

"We had made holiday plans to go out with friends and family after the boards end. All of these have been cancelled because of the virus outbreak. But I think it’s more important to stop the virus outbreak rather than risking lives of students and teachers and conduct exams."

Aadya Sarup, Class XII student

Performance Pressure Prolonged

But even for those whose exams are over, the fear of delayed results is only adding to the already-existing sense of performance pressure.

“I thought that after my mark sheets come I would take up science if I score good in science subjects. Else, I would take up commerce. Due to this delay, I will face performance pressure. And the more time passes, my fear of not getting a good score will keep increasing,” says Siddharth Verma, who’s done with his class X CBSE Exams.

Right Decision, Say Parents

While students remain worried about delayed exams and its consequence on their future plans, parents are somewhat relieved.

“It's the right decision given the situation. Distancing is important and there's no other option. There's a lot of uncertainty now. But I think the situation will be clear in the next two weeks and things will get better,” said Ashish Mathur, parent of a class XII CBSE student.