The recent news regarding the positive cases of COVID-19 has created a lot of chaos amongst the students, teachers and parents alike. The impact of the chaos increases manifold as the students of different departments are having their mid semesters and semester exams. The students who were found to be positive are hostelites. The hostels of the University hosts hundreds of students. If this sensitive situation is not dealt with properly then the University can become a COVID cluster.

We need to identify the immediate threats which can lead to the transmission of the virus and try to overcome them. The most important thing which can lead to magnified transmission is the conduction of examinations. The reasons are as follows -

1. There is full attendance of students during the exams. If so many students sit together for exams it can lead to community transmission of the virus and not only the students but the entire Cuttack district will become a hotspot.

2. Many students were allowed to leave the hostel and go home after the news of positive case surfaced. The students who have already departed from the University would not be able to attend the examination which will be a great problem for them. We have an examination on 27th March. It will be impossible for people to return on time for their examinations as we have a nationwide strike today (26th March)

3. The students of the affected hostels are going through mental trauma. As such, the study atmosphere is ruined. Students are scared and fear infection. Panic attacks are frequently witnessed.

4. Parents of many localites are refusing to send their children to give the examination. As such, careers of such students are at stake. The localites also may catch the virus if they sit for the examination. 

So to prevent the creation of a COVID cluster in Ravenshaw University, which is at a very high risk of transmission, we demand the following -

Postponement of the mid semester and semester examinations of the UG and PG students of all departments at least until 31st March. This will give time to the university and local authorities to take measures to prevent the transmission of the virus. After analysing the situation on 31st March, examinations may resume. However, offline examinations even in such a scenario would be very risky. We propose online examinations after 31st March.