CAN WE AFFORD TO POSTPONE ENTRANCE EXAMS ?

The controversial Supreme Court decision to uphold conducting of NEET and IIT JEE exams during the pandemic has been amidst much speculation and debacles about its implementation. What does it mean for the 11 lakh students appearing for these entrance exams?

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The Supreme Court of India dismissed a plea seeking the postponement of JEE Main and NEET 2020 entrance examinations scheduled to be held in September. The Supreme Court Bench, headed by Justice Arun Mishra and comprising Justices BR Gavai and Krishna Murari, said that the postponement of exams will result in students losing an academic year and will put their careers in peril.

Appearing for the National Testing Agency, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the exams will have to be conducted and that adequate precautions will be taken for conducting these tests.

Stated that "life has to go on" despite COVID-19, the SC Bench said,

"Life cannot be stopped. We have to move ahead with all safeguards and all... Are students ready to waste one whole year? Education should be opened up. COVID-19 may continue for a year more. Are you going to wait another year? Do you know what the loss to the country and peril to the students is?,"

The apex court was hearing a petition filed by 11 students, which said that conducting JEE Main 2020, JEE Advanced 2020 and NEET 2020 despite the coronavirus situation in India to be "utterly arbitrary, whimsical and violative of the fundamental right to life of lakhs of affected students".

The plea also cited the cancellation of remaining Institution of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), CBSE and ISC exams. It mentioned that Common Law Admission Entrance Test (CLAT) and the National Institute of Open School exams have been postponed as coronavirus cases continue to rise in the country.

While several measures are meted out by the central government, mainly through a set of new procedural guidelines, some of which are,

• For JEE Main, exam centres increased from 570 to 660 and for NEET its now 3,843 from 2,846.

• While all the candidates will be asked to go to the exam centres with masks and sanitisers, once they enter the centre, they will have to use the masks provided by the examination authority.

• To avoid crowd at the examination centre entrance due to candidates reaching together, they will be given staggered time slots for reporting.

• The staggering of time slots will be done to ensure uniform distribution of candidates across rooms during entry at the examination centres.

• For those candidates who have a temperature higher than 99.4 degrees Fahrenheit, they will be taken to Isolation Room. All processes of frisking and document verification will be done after a period of 15-20 minutes. In this time their temperature may become even normal, if not they will be allowed to take the examination alone in a separate room, the notification further stated.

• Before entering the exam hall, each student will have to wash their hands with soap and water and hand sanitizers will be available at various locations at the centre.

• On completion of exam, the candidates should be permitted to move out in an orderly manner – One candidate at a time, the notification stated.

• The gloves and masks should be disposed of in a pedal push covered bin at the Examination Centre and outside the examination room/hall only.

While these seem reasonable enough, some questions raised are:

1. Can we afford to delay exams because of COVID-19?

2. What about transportation and stay for people coming from rural and sub urban areas?

3. How will there be maintaining of decorum in the waiting area amassing thousands of parents at certain instances?

4. Is there any guarantee to not being affected?

(A petitioner signing for cancellation of examinations)

Lets make something abundantly clear, COVID-19 is here to stay whether we like it or not. Delaying might sound like an ideal task or a wish but lets take a good look at the stakes here. 11 lakh students pinning their hopes, dreams, probably a gap year of preparation, school exams cancelled and a COVID ridden uncertainty that looms over them. Although what the Supreme court makes some excellent points on continuation of exams, lets consider transportation.

Transportation is going to be a poignant concern for those in rural and sub urban areas where prime connection to main cities are through public transportation like buses and trains. Especially for people in the hinterlands especially in deep interiors will find it hard to reach exam centers which are prominently located in cities. A good 46 percent of student participation in these exams are from rural or sub urban areas. A deep concern among the public would also be how would families be able to cover cost of staying at a hotel, eating outside and travel considering how much the prices of average living has increased due to the pandemic in case exams are to be held in city centres.

(Will this be our new normal?)

The unfortunate truth is that a majority of these college admissions will depend on the individual's score in NEET or IIT JEE. Starting the process at least will get the education sector moving and reduce anxiety of students who are waiting for a long time to get this exam over with.

This July recorded a massive 7866 calls from students talking about their exams ranging from Suicidal thoughts to mild anxiety thoughts. That is 83 percent increase in calls from students.

This is a time of crucial decisions for our country because by not conducting this exam we are risking the lives of students more which means they could potentially be competing with the batch of 2021 for their seats. A cancellation of exams will cause a huge academic lag, a loss of economic opportunities for a numbered sect who got exams cancelled.

Cancellation will put the academic calendar in a toss and change our normal pattern which seem trivial to possibly chaotic. Imagine teachers taking twice the material for the normal batch and the COVID batch who wrote exams late? While the exams are delayed, we can no longer delay them.

If these students go to college this year, we can compensate for syllabus through many means but not conducting it would unleash a pandemic within a pandemic itself.

While the government promises maximum surveillance and precaution, we need to be mindful of the fact that this is a huge endeavor in itself to conduct entrance exams in itself. Do try to come up with Collaborative and Collective solutions to tackle this because well, the democracy is you, just 1.3 billion yous. Some of us will need help, Some of us can afford to and its safe to say that the future of our country is at risk literally (no pun intended).

To end with a quote by Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter the deathly Hallows,

You can find happiness even at the darkest of times, only if one remembers to turn on the lights.

Here's wishing all you NEET and IIT JEE aspirants the best of wishes and luck from itszeitgeist. I hope you triumph your demons inside, just as we try to tackle them on the outside.