The situation in West Bengal (and rest of India) is getting worse with each passing day. Last year when there were only a few cases board exams were cancelled. And now when we are recording nearly 400,000 daily new cases and record number of deaths  and the health care system has collapsed miserably, planning to go ahead with the idea of conducting is suicidal and will deteriorate the conditions rapidly to a greater disaster.

People are dying without any treatment, hospitals are running out of oxygen, No covid-19 related equipment is available in the medical facilities. Even people died in their houses with zero treatment and their bodies are left to be putrefied, Crematoriums are finding it impossible to handle the massive surge in death tolls. Instances of burning dead bodies on streets has been seen in some parts of the country.

Talking about the education system in the whole last year, No offline classes were conducted, schools were closed the whole academic session, classes were provided online through online video meeting applications, but we all know how many classes actually happened during this period. Even keeping the frequent technical difficulties aside, classes were conducted with negligence and those classes confused students more often than it solved their problems. In some cases, even the syllabus hasn't been covered properly. Preparing students for their exams seems like a far-fetched thought.

In this condition, where a deadly pandemic is at its peak(and rising with no signs of improvement) and a student wasn't provided minimum education, exams of such importance mustn't be conducted. Already they have huge mental pressure and going to write such exams with worrying about the health and safety of themselves and dear ones back home, is far from ideal.

 

We urge Our State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, WBCHSE, WBBSE to postpone Board exams of Class X,XI,XII(2021) of West Bengal State Board.   Internal assessment should be considered as an alternative grading scheme in such circumstances. Those who are still not satisfied with their results should be given a chance to write the exams later when the situation is well under control.