CBSE Board Exams 2021: Do Not Postpone or Cancel Board Exams, Say Section of Students

CBSE board exams 2021 are all set to be conducted in less than a month from now. However, due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases, a large number of students and parents have been requesting authorities to cancel board exams. In fact, #cancelboardexams2021 received over 412 thousand tweets recently asking for the exams to be postponed or canceled. Nevertheless, a silent majority wrote to Dataquest saying the CBSE board exams 2021 must not be postponed or canceled but held offline as scheduled.

“Board exams should be conducted in the normal manner only. Last year when COVID-19 cases were on peak, students appeared for NEET and the exam was conducted successfully. The students who are prepared well will never give such excuses and parents and students instead of requesting cancellation of exam should concentrate on their health and immune system. Cancellation of the exam would be the worst idea,” says Kritika, a class 12 PCB student studying in a school in New Delhi.

Should CBSE Board Exams 2021 Be Held Online?

While some stakeholders understand that canceling or postponing exams entirely may not be possible, they are requesting if the same can be held online. “If cancellation is not possible then please consider taking an  online exam as this strain of COVID is affecting youngsters the most. The new strain of novel Coronavirus has led to an increase in concerns due to its ability of high transmission. And a new report has claimed that the mutation is targeting young people as most of the cases have been reported in people under 20 years of age. The report also suggests that measures like social distancing that have been taken to curb the spread of Covid-19 do not work against the new variant,” said Dr. Saranjeet Kaur to Dataquest.

To the suggestion that examinations must at least be held online, a student by the name Rama Sahni had the following to say: “No, board exams should not be canceled. Online exams are not reliable as 90 percent of students have cheated in exams. Exams should be held offline. We have revised the reduced syllabus thoroughly so please do not cancel or postpone exams and hold them with all safety norms.”

Some are also of the view that online examinations allow students to cheat. “Utmost precaution must be taken to conduct the exam offline. Conducting online exams means allowing some students to cheat and take unfair advantage. Besides, it would take a lot of time to make the infrastructure ready for online exams. No Exam would also be unfair to the majority of students who have put in so much of their time and energy in studying online,” says Stephen Dias.

Postponing or Cancelling CBSE Board Exams 2021 Unfair to Hardworking Students

Schools students asking for examinations to be conducted offline as per schedule say that they had ample time to prepare, and canceling exams at this point would be unfair to them. “Exams should be conducted as scheduled. Just think of the students who worked hard throughout the year. Cancellation of exams is an injustice to them,” says a student.

“Students who have worked hard the whole year must be given a fair chance. We all know what happens in online exams and postponement is also not a solution either. And I know most of them have not completed the syllabus and are now demanding cancellation under the excuse of Coronavirus! Exams should be conducted offline and as per schedule. And those who don’t want to give can sit at homes and wait for next year,” says Divyansh Joshi.

Others are also commenting that the syllabus has already been reduced, and if students can visit malls and family gatherings they should be able to give examinations as well. “Please don’t cancel or postpone the board exams as even now it’s late. Also, students had ample time to prepare themselves for the exams. These are just excuses not to write exams. Canceling the exams will be an injustice to those students who had worked hard the whole year for the exams. Also, CBSE had reduced the syllabus by 30% since the classes were online. Now no more excuses. Exams are needed,” says a student.

Call Students for Only Important CBSE Board Exam 2021

A more neutral view from an individual called Prakrit says that students could be called for offline exams for only a few important subjects. “The boards are meant to be a standardised examination that tests all students on an equal platform. However, lack of proper internet connection and inability to afford more than one device in hundreds of families has left many students at a major disadvantage, negating the entire point of the board examinations. However, it is still important to conduct them considering how important they are for our college admissions. Additionally, it is not possible to conduct the boards online due to the internet connectivity issues faced by a vast majority of the students,” he says.

“CBSE should allow the students to appear for board examinations of only three subjects. With one compulsory language exam and two examinations from the four subjects in the students’ particular stream, they can appear for examinations in the subjects they will be pursuing in college/ the future. For example, students who want to study computer engineering can appear for examinations in Computer Science and Physics, or Computer Science and Mathematics depending on what branch of Computer Engineering they want to do,” he adds.