Panaji : The government of Goa on 2nd June announced that the state would not conduct SSC & HSSC exams. Subsequently, various students’ councils and Students’s unions were demanding that their final year exams either be cancelled or be held online.
Students have been apprehensive of the third wave of corona. Having failed to adequately prepare for the second wave of coronavirus infections, officials and health authorities are now routinely warning people of the third Corona wave which is supposed to hit during monsoon. Principal scientific advisor K VikayRaghavan said the third wave is inevitable and it could be avoided through strong measures.
Is cancelling the exams a good answer? Academics while speaking to Goa News Hub said exam is a medium through which a student understands his capabilities and eligibility for further studies on the other hand exam scores also tell the professor how well a student has understood the subject.
Students, Professors and Parents are caught in a situation where they need to find an amicable solution wherein their eligibility would also be tested as well as they wouldn’t come in contact with the virus.
Rudr Ghotge, a member of Goa University Students’ Council has suggested Goa University to hold assignment based evaluations (ABE). He said “A number of students are struck and are in the worst conditions. With family members of many students falling prey to this deadly virus it is completely not advisable to put others at risk with the movement of students in colleges by conduct of examination”
Goa University Post Graduation Students’ Council President Sanmesh Shet Pointed out that the mental health of the students is also affected during these challenging times. “There are twenty thousand plus final year students in the state and most of them are not vaccinated. Holding offline exams would be risking their lives” he said in his letter to the Registrar of Goa University.
National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) President Naushad Chowdhari believes if offlines exams are conducted the state would put the students in harm’s way. “We have asked Goa University to conduct online exams. When top Universities like Delhi University(DU) has announced that it would conducting online exam for students in the final semester, I don’t see a reason why Goa University should not follow a similar format” concluded Chowdhari
