Amidst this resurgence of the COVID cases in the country, we have seen this situation become more real by the day. Just as things were starting to get better and we were seeing our peers and teachers at school, we plummeted back to exactly where we were a year ago.

Not only does this bring about systemic trauma in everyone's nervous systems- as we're replicating the conditions we were in this time last year- but it also deepens the ruptures that existed prior. Seeing a pandemic harm the people we know and love, while also worrying about the board examinations is very taxing on every students mental and physical health.

While we are constantly being told to utilise this blessing of extra time to study for our examinations, being able to get our minds and bodies in the right space to revise productively is a mammoth task that unfortunately very few of us are able to accomplish.

Most importantly, all examination centers are bound to create COVID hotspots. A lot of us have people above the age of 50 at home. A lot of us have grandparents at home. Even though some of them have gotten the first dosage of the vaccine, there is no guarantee of it working. And while we consider the board examinations to be a closing chapter to a long, well-lived school life, there is nothing that is worth putting the health and lives of our loved ones on the line.

The decision to postpone adds pressure to students preparing for entrance examinations, or those who have to meet conditional offers to go to university abrooad.

We urge you to devise an alternative method of grading us for the Academic Year 2020-21. These past 13 months have taken a lot from all of us. Individually, and as a whole. In all honesty all of us want it to end faster because knowing that an ongoing pain is going to be prolonged is draining, demotivating and anxiety inducing.