New Delhi, 02 December 2021: Around 8,000 parents have written a letter to the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan requesting him to direct the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to provide a hybrid option for board exams in view of concerns raised by a new variant of COVID-19, Omicron. As per the parents, conducting offline exams under these conditions can invite a medical crisis again. Moreover, they have highlighted that the “Right to Life” should be the priority while evaluating students. As per them, lack of choice has put a lot of students under psychological pressure.
What is Hybrid Mode of Exam?
Hybrid mode of examination entails the process of holding exams both in online and offline mode. While an online examination system is a computer-based test system that is used to conduct computer-based tests online, an offline exam is the traditional way of conducting tests with offline question paper and OMR based answer sheets.
CBSE Term 1 Exams – Why Are Demands for Exams in Hybrid Mode Being Raised?
- All the students have not been vaccinated completely yet.
- Around 3 percent to 4 percent students are still being tested positive.
- COVID-19 virus is expected to spread even more due to the year-end festive season. This would give rise to a super-spreader event if the same is conducted only in offline mode.
- Some states are still under the red zone. Hence, holding offline examinations across India would only lead to violation of the COVID-19 protocols.
- To ensure fair assessment, conducting online exams will be justified for the students as they have been following the mechanism of online learning for more than a year now.
Note: This letter has come up after the Supreme Court scrapped a petition filed by a group of students seeking directions for CBSE and CISCE to issue a revised circular for conducting the ensuing Class 10 and 12 board examinations in hybrid mode instead of offline mode only due to prevalence of COVID-19 pandemic.
Students React to CBSE’s Decision of Conducting Term 1 Exams in Offline Mode
Even the students have taken to twitter to raise their concern on holding first term exams in hybrid mode. Using the hashtags ‘#MakeTerm1Online’ and ‘#MakeTerm1Hybrid’, the students claimed that the offline examination would pose a threat to their lives.
