A pandemic similar to the coronavirus outbreak was never before witnessed by the youth of the country, a pandemic that put everything on a standstill. After putting the entire nation on a nearly 4-month-long lockdown, the government has now begun unlocking the country in phases. Yet, schools and colleges have still been advised to remain shut, and why? Because we cannot risk the lives of the youth, the future of our country.
According to the Education Ministry, some exams cannot be put on hold. JEE and NEET exams have already been conducted, and now students and aspirants preparing for several other exams have taken the social media by storm, demanding the postponement or cancellation of their exams.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) prelim exams are scheduled to be conducted from October 4, this year. However, most of the aspirants are not willing to appear for the exam due to the coronavirus pandemic.
At a time when the senior citizens and young children need to be specially taken care of, UPSC aspirants say their travel to the exam centre and returning home would pose an equal health risk of their family members as well, who otherwise have been following guidelines issued in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.
Even several scientific studies have said masks cannot protect people breathing the same air inside a room with high occupancy.
Giving out details to India TV Digital, some UPSC aspirants said they have or had tested positive for coronavirus in the past few weeks. While there are others who are residing in containment zones or someone from their family have tested COVID positive.
Meanwhile, several states have imposed lockdown as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise. In such a situation, it would be challenging for the aspirants to take public transport to reach the exam centre.
Speaking about UPSC, an aspirant, on the condition of anonymity told India TV Digital, "The UPSC prelim is a 2-stage exam which would have a time gap of 2 hours in between both the papers. Most of the aspirants are COVID warriors, while for some this may be their last attempt."
Another aspirant said, "The exam centre is 230 km from my place in Pune, and in containment zone. Pune is reporting more than 5000 patients daily. Such kind of large gathering can create more infections. We have a family at home wherein we also have senior citizens. UPSC should understand that aspirants are coming from some of the most highly infected states."
Many exam centres are already being used as COVID wards, the aspirants have claimed, adding it would be highly dangerous to lead the future human capital into an unknown abyss.
As #PostponeUPSC_CSE continues to be among the Twitter trends, here are some questions put forth by the UPSC aspirants
- Why is the government conducting exams now when India is daily reporting close to 1 lakh coronavirus cases? The exams were postponed when the country had begun reporting few cases
- Various reports have suggested India is experiencing its peak for COVID at present. Is it feasible to conduct any exam now?
- Courts and the Parliament are not holding physical sessions and are conducting proceedings through video conferencing. Then why put the lives of students at risk?
- Guidelines and SOPs for exam centres will be limited to centres. What about the public transport that the students will take? What about guardians who would accompany their children to the exam centres?
- Some states have imposed complete lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. What if the students/aspirants are unable to find a conveyance to reach the exam centre?
- What are the provisions made for students experiencing seasonal flu/viral, asthma who cannot wear masks for a long duration?
- What provisions have been made for the differently-abled students or those already at high risk (pregnant women, women with infants at home)?
- Will the washrooms at exam centres be equally clean? Will there be clean drinking water available for candidates?
Meanwhile, India on September 13 registered a record 94,372 coronavirus cases in 24 hours taking the total number of infections to over 47 lakh.
The country also recorded the highest deaths in a day. With 1,114 deaths in the last 24 hours, the cumulative toll has now reached 78,586.
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