The second wave of the pandemic induced
by the Chinese virus seem to be abating in the country, yet the toll it has
taken seems to be manifesting in multiple ways. It is not just the people who
have died but the livelihoods it has destroyed might take years to recover. The
livelihoods destroyed are both on account of death of family members,
breadwinners, kids losing either one or both parents, the loss of jobs induced
by the lockdowns, the drop in demand for many goods impacting the production of
the goods among many other things. Many skilled and unskilled workers are left
hunting for jobs with little sight to their end in misery. Away from this the
children have lost their childhood. Kept confined to their homes, they might
grow very different in social experiences away from the elders. They are not
able to enjoy the natural role of playing and meeting with friends. Furthermore,
their education has been disrupted. The schools are closed and thus the
learning is almost nil. There are online classes but these are poor substitute
for natural learning that has to happen to young kids. With examinations
cancelled, there is little oversight on their learning in the past year or so. The
long term spill overs of these are not manifest yet.
It might be long before one looks
into these dimensions and its impact on shaping the career of these kids. In fact,
even at undergraduate level, the open book exams or online exams are not the
best way to judge things. They might be a poor substitute for effective
learning. Moreover, the teachers themselves are unprepared for transformation
to online classes. The teachers are adopting makeshift methods which are
transient and beyond a point, these methods will begin to earn diminishing returns.
In this context, the decision not to conduct the Class XII exams for CBSE has
to be examined. The decision will have its spillovers given that all states
inevitably will cancel their Class XII and Class X exams. In the last academic
year, many states did conduct these exams. In fact, the CBSE had to cancel not
because it was unwilling the states were not ready to conduct them especially
Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra among others. This year, it is the decision of the
government perhaps bowing to the pressures from parents, administrators,
political parties getting over them. The decision perhaps was inevitable. The government
had little option but to cancel the exam. There are of course some political grandstanding
going on in terms of taking credit. At some ways it might be viewed as PM Modi
trying to regain some lost ground and thus maintain his appeal among the
classes which have voted for him. However, there needs to be long term
assessment of these issues of cancellation of exams.
The decision has obviously pleased
the students and the parents alike. It is no wonder they seem to be in joyous
mood as the Prime Minister met them in a surprise virtual meet. Yet, while in
the innocent years, they might pleasures in these, the long term impact might
be high. It would be about the entry into the professional courses like
engineering or medicine or allied courses. It might be about admissions into
the foundation levels of professional courses like chartered accountancy among
others. These course would require an entrance examination without which the
entry might not be possible. In many instances, the marks obtained at the Class
XII is given a certain weightage. In the new context, the weightages might have
to be redrawn completely. There would be a need to basically build the
admission process purely on the entrance exam basis. The NEET was conducted
successfully last year. This year, too there would be a need to have these
entrance exams at some point of time. In the previous year, the classes had
happened through the year and it was only the exams that had been affected. In fact,
in many ways, the learning was not affected, only the evaluation did. This year,
the learning itself has been affected. The classes have not happened and by and
large have been online. This has impacted the learning outcomes. It is not
about merely the exams but the learning that leads to these exams.
When the learning is disrupted, it
has serious issues to students at all levels in making up at higher levels. For
instance even in the lower classes, the longer the duration the classes remain
online or closed, the more difficult it would become for the students to cope
with the increasing demands of higher classes. It is not very easy to
concentrate for long hours in online classes nor would it be easy for teachers
to design assignments or home work that would be appealing to students. As noted
above, the methods which teachers are adopting are makeshift for the immediate
needs rather than a long term design to switch to online education. The learning
curve is very steep and needs investment of different magnitude not in terms of
money or technology but in the changed mindset of the teachers delivering those
courses. If the students do not grasp the learnings, it would be difficult for
catching up. Teachers losing their track would hamper their effectiveness in
the medium to the long run. Therefore, there needs to be a solution to this
quagmire.
The only solution at the moment
would be the mass vaccination of students. This had been suggested by quite a
few this year too but the lack of vaccines might have hampered the attempt. There
needs to be prioritization of vaccinating the younger kids below eighteen years
of age. If possible, there must be an attempt to vaccinate those sitting
entrance examinations like NEET and similar other undergraduate and
postgraduate entrance exams. This would help in curbing the incidence of cases.
The only protection at the moment is the vaccination. The government cannot
afford to halt the student careers. In absence of vaccines, there is no point
in opening the campuses. The only resort is the mass vaccination. The CBSE
decision is a temporary stop gap one time and should not be a precedent.
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