"Who will take responsibility if students test COVID +ve and die?" MHC asks TN govt

Amidst the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu, the school education department of the state had announced the dates for 10th standard public exams, starting from June 1st to 12th, which, after the demand and fear from the parents and teachers were postponed from to June 15 - 25th.

Despite pushing the dates for two more weeks and as the number of cases continues in the state day by day, many teacher associations and parents demanded that the exams should not be conducted right now keeping the safety of the students in the mind as the cases are alarmingly getting high in the state.

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Opposition leader MK Stalin also demanded that the government should cancel the 10th exams and that the government cannot play with the lives of the students and teachers who are going to take exams. Meanwhile, MHC heard a PIL which was filed against the decision of the government to conduct the exams for 10th students amidst this chaos.

'How can lives be put at risk?'

The Court has asked a number of questions to the state government on the conduct of the 10th exams, Court asked as "Who will be responsible if any class 10 student tests positive and dies for corona?" The judges also asked,  "How can lives of 9 lakh students and 2 lakh teachers be put in the risk?"

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The Tamil Nadu government responded by the noon and argued, "This is the right time to conduct the 10th board exams as the infection rate is estimated to go up severely in Tamil Nadu in coming days." The AG of the TN govt also informed the court that
Govt has made all the safety measures to conduct the exams. The exam halls will be sanitized thoroughly and students will be given masks while writing the exams

After hearing the arguments, the court adjourned the crucial hearing to 11th of June.

"Why is the government adamant? Are exams important than the life of 9 lakh students and teachers? The students can't even exam peaceful at this point of time, it's not possible to maintain social distancing norms with the students during the exams," said the teacher's association president.

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Amidst all the discourse, Telangana cabinet has decided to promote all the 10th standard students without conducting the exams at all. "A state with just 3,650 cases has promoted all the 10th std students without conducting exams, is it right to conduct exams in a state where there are 33,229 cases? The govt need not listen to us, let them atleast following the Telangana Chief minister" asked DMK president MK Stalin in a tweet.

The Chief Minister, Edapadi Palanisamy is set to have a meeting with the school education minister KA Sengottiyan on Tuesday regarding this lingering issue.

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