Crucial annual examinations for pandemic era students
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: April 06, 2022 -

OVER 28,000-plus students would be appearing in the Higher Secondary Examination-2022, which will follow the HSLC examination that commenced from Tuesday with even greater number of candidates.

Due to cessation of the conventional teaching and learning process in an effort to contain outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the student Candidates were deprived of proper preparations for the said examinations.

Thus, mediocre students would definitely pray that the questions asked either wouldn't be tough or it would correspond to what they have prepared in anticipation.

Outbreak of the pandemic came as a blessing in disguise for students from the primary to higher secondary level last year as they were all promoted due to virulent spread of the contagious disease.

However, with significant improvement in the pandemic situation since the last few months conduct of the two crucial annual examinations was inevitable as en-masse promotion without the time-tested tradition of screening the students' academic competitiveness is considered anti-thesis to contemporary system of education.

For those hardworking and cerebrally agile students, the pandemic-induced closure of schools wouldn't matter much but it is the ordinary students who would be feeling great remorse over lack of opportunity to prepare for the examination under the able guidance of the teachers.

The recent street protest by students of different Imphal-based government higher secondary schools after the Council of Higher Secondary Education Manipur (CoHSEM) announced the examination schedules corroborate that many of them don't have the confidence of securing excellent marks which would aid their admission to pursue higher studies while many others fear of not getting through the annual test at all.

Nevertheless, as CoHSEM has decided to conduct the Higher Secondary Examination, 2022 in over 110 centres spread across the state, thousands of class XII students would be praying for some divine intervention as well as hoping that the examination invigilators wouldn't be vigilant enough to foil their misadventure.

The challenging situation besieging student candidates for the ensuing matriculation and higher secondary examinations could be comprehended from government authorities and student organisations wishing good luck to the examinees but out-rightly declaring that use of unfair means wouldn't be tolerated.

In view of the inconveniences faced by the students in preparing for the examinations, it is desired that flying squads and vigilante groups constituted by the government or various student organisations do not get hyper-active in trying to cleanse the perennial ills afflicting the examination system but exercise maximum restraint so that no unwanted scene is created in the examination hall and disturbance caused to innocent industrious students.

All concerned must acknowledge that the very education system is one of reasons that students take recourse to unfair means while taking examinations and thus fail to comprehend the meaning of knowledge as well as of life.

Those who take recourse to such ways can't be naive of the fact that not only they themselves suffer but also make others, society in particular, suffer eternally.

Unlike the past trend of mass copying in examinations, concerted efforts and campaigns by all the stakeholders have resulted in significant dip in use of unfair means in the last few years and as such the need of the hour is to create friendly environment that could encourage the diligent students to take examination as the launch pad for pursuing their life-goal.