‘Offline exam not an option; prepared student-friendly plan for candidates’

There was no option for an offline format for an exam that is held at such a huge level. The board understands the issues faced by the students and thus, we have prepared a student-friendly plan this year. While the syllabus has already been reduced, candidates are being given additional time to complete the paper. Students with special needs will get additional time which will be over and above the extra time they used to get earlier. All examinees will be given the question paper 10 minutes ahead of the exam to allow them the time to read it well before beginning to write answers. With online learning, children have lost the practice of writing. And now, when they are going to appear for a paper of 3-hour duration, the plan is to ensure a pressure-free environment with additional time. Instead of neutral exam centre arrangements like every year, this time, the students’ own schools and junior colleges will be their exam centres. Practical assessments, which have begun, have no external examiner this time. While the regular helpline services to help students deal with exam stress has been continued this year, a new helpline has been launched at different divisions.

What is the purpose of the new helpline and how will it work?

There are going to be control rooms in all divisions of the state board. The new helpline is a set of landline and mobile numbers of state board officials working in their respective control rooms. They would be able to guide students, parents and even exam centres or teachers if there is any confusion over the new set of measures introduced this year.

Why has the board implemented ‘your school, your exam center’ policy this year?

The idea behind the policy is to ensure a safe environment for students. If the exam centre is their own school or junior college, not only is it a familiar space, the children and parents are also aware of Covid protocol being followed on the premises. Since they travel to their respective schools regularly, the students shall not face any additional commuting woes in already difficult conditions. This decision has been taken keeping the comfort of students in focus.

But infrastructure at some schools is not adequate enough to ensure complete Covid protocol, especially the requirement of physical distancing…

We are aware that there could be some such schools. All local-level education officers have been asked by the Director of Secondary Education to visit schools in their jurisdiction to verify all such details. Meetings are being held at local levels with principals of schools to understand challenges faced by them. If there is any school that is not equipped to hold exams for all its students adhering to the Covid protocol, required arrangements will be made such as connecting them with nearby schools, or a hall in the same vicinity. Schools are already aware of basic requirements to run as centre for Board exams and additional Covid-related guidelines have been communicated to them. I appeal to the schools that if they are facing any issues, they should reach out to their respective state board divisions.

Aren’t there more chances of malpractices if the exam centre is your own school? What is the board planning to do to keep things under control?

Initially, the plan was to exchange teachers. With this, even as the students go to their own school to sit for the exam, the staff conducting the exams will be different. But that was not practically possible because to make exam-related arrangements, regular staff was needed on the campus. So now, the board is exploring the possibility of having a panel of neutral persons at local levels who can keep a watch. We already have flying-squad arrangements, which make surprise visits to exam centres to catch malpractices; this time, we plan to have ‘sitting-squads’. We will hold discussions with teachers’ organisations over this.