Exam and Election season in India are amazing. These two seasons cause more deaths and devastation than any other, especially the former one. Thank You Indian society for making students feel bad about themselves. Thank You for forcing them to commit suicide. Thank You for forcing them to break their mental peace. Thank You for making them feel horrible. Aha! Let’s add a topping on it, exams during a pandemic. It was fine until the assignments but exams amidst this pandemic are going to be a hodgepodge.
The main purpose of exams is to test students what they are taught. It gives you the ability to stay focused under pressure. It brushes your skill. I believe it does but being locked in the house for more than 100 days doesn’t make the situation better despite it makes it worse. When the lockdown was imposed I planned to take on cutting things off my bucket list. I am sure all you must have thought that way but slowly the stress, anxiety, fear, pressure started to build up. Everyone is on the verge of mental breakdown. The surrounding is depressed. The world is depressed. The world is becoming hollow.
Why are we taking exams? Are we even taught anything? Irregular classes, poor internet, irritated students and teachers — the feudal system. The world is going down, the economy is crashing, protests are being held, police brutality is peaking and most importantly, people are dying because of COVID-19. People are scared. Even the calmest of the minds are flipping out. What do you expect from young adults? Their prefrontal cortex is not developed. This compromises to rageful decisions, sloppy behaviour, recklessness, impulsive nature and disturbed brain. These are the future of the nation. While they are gradually slipping into the cruel world, it’s hard for them to understand the nature of people, making them anxious.
The decisions of UGC has contributed more to this. Students who are already under pressure are being provided with confusing statements. Authorities have constantly changed their decision in the nick of time. State governments suggested not to hold examinations then UGC, on July 6, issued a notice to conduct examinations of the terminal semester and final year, suggesting to hold exams by September 30. While WHO has passed guidelines suggesting that the worst is yet to come. UGC believes all of it will settle by September 30.
Universities have tried mock examinations but thanks to the poor internet infrastructure, the system has been brutally compromised. There is a case of a girl committing suicide because her father couldn’t afford a smartphone for her class. Government is slowly transforming schools and colleges to COVID centers and at the same time asking students to take offline exams. Believe it or not, things are getting out of hands.
An alternative is to cancel final semester exams while using the average of marks obtained in previous semesters as a proxy of final semester marks. This will meet the guidelines of pandemic and there is nothing to worry about the connectivity because prior examination results are already available. While we talked about mental health when Sushant Singh Rajput died, at the same time UGC has forced exams and increased the mental tension of the final year students. Aren’t those officers aware of the fragile and panicky age of young adults, or officers at UGC love the cheap and reliable idea of exams for creating hierarchy in society?