India's exams amid COVID-19: Calls for postponement, stressed infra & disrupting semesters

As calls for JEE and NEET exams to be postponed grow louder, UPSC aspirants to have raised their voices seeking to postpone their entrance exams scheduled on October 4 - suggesting its merger with 2021 3-level UPSC exams. Several politicians like - Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Asaduddin Owaisi, Subramanian Swamy have urged the Centre to postpone the exams amid the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. With the Supreme Court dismissing all pleas seeking postponing exams, Centre has confirmed that the NEET exam will be held on September 13 while the JEE (Main) too will be held from 1 September to 6 September 2020.

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Centre's stance on exams

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has already released admit cards for the JEE (Main) and will soon the NEET exam will be released shortly. The NTA has also detailed guidelines for aspirants appearing for the exam amid COVID -  staggered time slots, temperature scans, separate isolation rooms for students displaying COVID-19 symptoms. While NTA has stated there will be no body frisking, candidates are allowed to only carry a mask, gloves, transparent water bottle, 50 ml hand sanitizer and exam related documents. Elaborate arrangements have been made to sanitise the centres before and after the conduct of the examinations, give fresh masks and (on demand) hand gloves in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

The Supreme Court's order stated, “We find that there is absolutely no justification in the prayer made for postponement of the examination in question relating to NEET UG-2020 as well as JEE (Main) April 2020. In our opinion, though there is a pandemic situation, ultimately life has to go and the career of the students cannot be put on peril for the long and full academic year cannot be wasted,” which has been quoted by NTA in their decision.

Centre confirms NEET exam to be held on September 13; admit cards to be distributed soon

Why are students, activists, politicians seeking postponement?

Citing the COVID-19 pandemic, floods in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, constricted travel amid lockdown in various states, students have sought to postpone the exams. Several activists have highlighted the undue stress thrust on students amid the pandemic to appear for exams while Universities and schools remain shut as ordered by the Centre. Apart from entrance exams like NEET and JEE, states like Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi have opposed the Centre's order to conduct Final Year exams by September. These governments have informed the Supreme Court that it will be unable to conduct these exams amid the ongoing pandemic. With the Centre's push to conduct NEET/JEE Mains, these governments are now mulling as to how they will prepare to conduct these exams.

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Which exams are postponed, which are scheduled?

While all Universities, schools, colleges are shut till August 31 under 'Unlock 3', several entrance exams like - BITSAT 2020, AIAPGET 2020, MAT 2020, NCHM JEE 2020, ATMA 2020 most state CETs have been postponed, as per reports. Apart from the college curriculum/entrance exams, several recruitment exams for ITBP, RBI, several state Public Service Commission, Delhi Higher Judicial Services, Staff Selection Commission too have been postponed. CBSE, ICSE, ISC and most state boards have cancelled Class X and Class XII exams, with a few exceptions like - Karnataka, Rajasthan conducting remaining exams. NEET and JEE (Mains) are scheduled in September, while UGC has told states to conduct final year exams too - online or offline - arguing cancelling will impact 'standards of higher education'.

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Disruption in academic calendar due to postponement?

While universities fret on the additional burden to conduct exams with social distancing guidelines and more infrastructure, several academicians fear that postponing exams will burden next year's shortened academic calendar. Experts state while postponing exams for some time is acceptable, resulting in a delay in the academic year's admission, it was not an ideal solution. Experts argue that professional courses like Engineering, medicine have several laboratory components which have to be conducted on campus in a timely fashion. By postponing exams and a truncated academic year - ideally starting by November-December, academicians fear that they will not be able to manage to conduct such classes.

The other worry academicians feel is that online classes may not be able to substitute in-class lectures for key courses. Besides a delay in exams leading to cutting down a semester, institutes have expressed the challenges they will face filling the many reserved quotas in the admission counselling process. Apart from these troubles, several experts have raised arguments on India's online teaching infrastructure not being uniform and robust - depriving several students of lower economic backgrounds from timely, quality education.