Officials have promised utmost precautions at test centres to stop
the spread of Covid-19, but students are not convinced about their
safety.
Abhilekh Belbase, a twelfth grader from Kathmandu Model School,
Bagbazar is preparing to take his final high school examination to be
administered by the National Examination Board next month.
A
permanent resident of Butwal, Belbase doesn’t have to travel to Kathmandu for
the test because the board has arranged for him to sit the examination at a
centre in his hometown. However, Belbase together with dozens of other
examinees, will have to congregate in one centre for their examinations. While
he is happy that the test is being held, seven months behind schedule, he is
afraid of contracting the virus in the crowd of examinees.
“The
ever-increasing threat of coronavirus won’t allow me to take the test with a
free mind,” he said. “I don’t understand what the problem is in conducting the
test online if the entire teaching-learning process can be done virtually.”
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The exams, which were scheduled to begin on May 3, were postponed owing
to the pandemic. The board published the schedule for in-person tests starting
November 20 after the clearance from the Ministry of Education to hold the
examination. But there are changes in the format.
The examinees
will take a written examination for 40 percent of the total weightage,
additional 40 percent evaluation would be done based on their performance in
grade 11 and the remaining 20 percent based on an internal evaluation by the
respective schools.
The board normally conducts the tests in May
and publishes the results by October. The Cabinet on October 5 allowed all the
boards, academic institutions, universities and other institutions to hold
their examinations. Following the Cabinet decision, boards and universities
have started conducting tests due for the last several months though there are
no signs that the threat of the pandemic will subside.
Jung Bahadur
Aryal, spokesperson for the board, said they had to opt for an in-person test
to maintain its credibility. “A majority of the stakeholders we consulted with
suggested holding the examination in the traditional format,” he said. “We
have tried to lessen the burden on students by decreasing the weightage of the
written test.”
Instead of the usual three-hour tests, the students
will do written examinations for just one and a half hours. Aryal said they
have adopted measures for the safety of students. Students won’t have to
travel to the place of their admission, proper social distancing and safety
measures will be adopted and there will be separate tests, later, for those
infected with Covid-19.
Despite this promise of utmost precaution,
students seem unconvinced. Prakriti Bhattarai, a grade 12 examinee from
Everest School, Butwal, says gathering students in one centre will definitely
expose them to the virus threat. Around 431,000 students have registered for
the examinations this year.
University examinations will also be
taking place soon.
Tribhuvan University, Nepal’s oldest and largest
varsity, had decided to conduct the tests in the usual format even before the
Cabinet cleared its way. Pushpa Raj Joshi, examination controller at the
university, said the Cabinet decision comes as an approval of their plan.
“Covid-19
is not going to go soon. We have to adjust with it, taking necessary
precautions,” said Joshi. “We will start conducting tests from November third
week.”
The Office of the Controller of Examinations of the
university is prepared to allow students to take their exams from an
affiliated college nearest to them. For instance, a student enrolled in a
college in Kathmandu or other cities can take his/her exams from a college in
their hometown. Over 415,000 students are currently enrolled in various
courses offered by the university.
Joshi said they have already
prepared software to register students from the districts where they are
currently living. The oldest university has around 1,100 constituent and
affiliated colleges, at least one in each district.
Joshi said they
will set up more centres to hold the tests beginning with the final year and
final semesters of the bachelor and master levels.
Experts on
public health say this is a wrong time to hold in-person tests. Dr GD Thakur,
former director general of the Department of Health, said the patient load is
doubling every week and there is already a shortage of hospital beds. “What if
students get infected en masse?” he said. “Academic institutions should opt
for online tests.”
As many as 3,517 new cases were reported on
Friday, taking the Covid-19 tally to 168,235.
source: the kathmandu post, 3 november 2020
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