Panaji: Amidst reports of local transmission of COVID-19, NSUI has demanded postponing of all exams and vivas of students regardless of any stream or course and studying in any standard.
“Community transmission is said to be reported in Vasco area which clearly shows there was community transmission while exams of SSC were conducted,” NSUI Goa Chief Ahraz Mulla said.
“In interest of the people of Goa and students, we request the government to rectify its mistake of conducting SSC exams and call off all exams particularly of Architecture, Ayurvedic, Homeopathy, Nursing, B.ED and all other courses.”
“Exams of Engineering, Medical, LLB and other undergraduate courses have already been postponed and we are very thankful to the governement to listen to our demands.”
As a student of GVM’s Dr. Dada Vaidya College of Education , I too would want to put forward a few points for consideration on behalf of the students of my college.
It’s a fact that COVID 19 has not only slowed down the pace of life and brought the world to a standstill but has also created a lot of stress economically and mentally on people.
The students of my college are facing problems creating a lot of stress, anxiety and fear. To add to this all is the issue if examinations, which has not only made situations worse but is also causing panic among students of what is going to come next.
Keeping this in mind I have a few facts to quote and state which if taken into consideration could be of great help for all the B.Ed Students in our state.
1) In normal situations itself our students have faced many problems due to transport and weather conditions.
Since we have only 3 B.Ed institutions, students come from corners of Goa. They have to travel various corners to reach the institution as they have opted for the course.
Given this pandemic it would be all the more worse because
a) Students have to depend on public transport for their travel.
b) there are some places where public transport isn’t even available making it difficult to even travel.
c) those coming by private vehicles would also face difficulties as it is monsoon season with heavy rainfall in June.
d) The over crowding of the buses with working people and students would not cater to social distancing but only make it worse.
e) reaching on time for the said examination would be a challenge
f) and traveling back home would only depend on getting transport which would take a full day I’m travelling and coming back to answer a paper the very next day giving the student very little time to even breathe this causing unnecessary stress.
Thus traveling from one end to another with limited services of buses or no buses at all is very difficult. And traveling back home would only depend on getting transportation. Thus wasting a full day only being worried about commute to college and back home.
Besides the travel being an issue students have not even been able to collect their study material because of so many restrictions and shops being closed. It’s only recently that most shops have been open and travel permitted to get the study material in place.
Having mentioned our problems it would be very unjust not considering any solutions to ease the stress of students.
After thoughtful consideration and on discussion with my fellow students here are a few suggestions we want to put forward.
1) We could think of alternative ways of examinations. Writing a paper undergoing stress and anxiety doesn’t seem to be a solution. It would fulfill the norms of conducting an examination but it wouldn’t achieve students learning.
2) B.Ed unlike other professional courses is a more practical oriented course where how to teach in a classroom is more important than only answering exams. To achieve this purpose we have been graded and evaluated during our practice teaching and this I feel is sufficient enough to be considered as internal marks on which we as first years could be graded.
3) we have also submitted assignments and projects. All the students have put in efforts in presenting the best with a lot of research work done which is documented with colleges. This could also be considered as our internal assessment and we could be graded on the same.
4) Another alternative would be students being assigned work to be done on implementation of the particular subjects which can be done from the comfort of their homes which would not only test the theories learnt but go a step further and put implications of the given subject. This would be evaluated and considered as a alternative way than regular examinations.
5) we being first year students have another academic year and having evaluated this academic year with internal marks only or alternative ways because the first year portion is only basic concepts only which needs to be understood and implemented than learnt.
We’re not resisting exams but only voicing out the difficulties we would face and providing suggestions.
We leave the final decision into your hands but it would be a great relief if our recommendations are taken into consideration.