Page 15 - EducationWorld April 2020 low res 48 mb_Neat

accepted, a huge number of DU final “With all non-essen-
year students may have to repeat their tial services on hold
final year, a heavy price to pay for no and public transport
fault of theirs. disrupted, how did
Dilip Bobb (Delhi) the minister expect
students to reach
MAHARASHTRA examination centres?
Curious exams Why the hurry to fin-
ish exams even at the
fervour cost of putting over
a million students at
risk? If the national
aharashtra’s five-months- CBSE and CISCE
old three-party (Shiv Sena, boards can postpone
MCongress and National- their exams, why not
ist Congress) Maha Vikas Aaghadi Varsha Gaikwad: cavalier disregard MSBSHSE? Perhaps
(MVA) government is under fire for because children who
having pressed ahead to complete papers prescribed by the board with write the SSC exams are not from
the school-leaving exams of the only the geography paper scheduled the elite sections of society,” says
Maharashtra State Board of Second- for March 23 (Monday) remaining Uday Nare, a former member of the
ary and Higher Secondary Education to be written. However, following MSBSHSE.
(MSBSHSE) until March 21, despite widespread criticism from teachers Meanwhile the state’s education
the state government itself having and parents, the exam was called off ministry has belatedly postponed
issued ‘work from home’ orders to over the weekend. “Looking at the MSBSHSE schools’ class IX and XI
industry and ordering shutdown current situation in the state, it has exams until April 15. Simultaneously
of all educational institutions on been decided to postpone Monday’s under the state approved ‘no-deten-
March 14 to contain the Covid-19 SSC exam. Fresh dates for the exam tion’ until class VIII provision of the
pandemic raging across the state. In will be announced after March 31,” RTE Act, 2009, all children in classes
this connection it’s pertinent to note said Gaikwad in a press statement I-VIII will be promoted to higher
that Maharashtra (pop.112 million) issued on March 21. classes without internal school
has reported the highest number of The contradictory directives exams. Meanwhile, on the political
Covid-19 positive cases (1,018) and being issued by the MVA coalition front, cracks within the five-month-
45 deaths (April 8) of all states of government during this national old MVA government are beginning
the Indian Union. emergency — and particularly at a to widen.
According to a political opponent, time when the state is reporting the Dipta Joshi (Mumbai)
failure of education minister Varsha country’s largest number of Covid-19
Gaikwad to direct MSBSHSE to positive cases and death toll — has TAMIL NADU
call-off the exam has raised the aroused widespread anger and
spectre of a large number of the 1.7 exposed cracks in the hastily cobbled Exams U-turn
million students who wrote the exam opportunistic coalition government
until March 21, having been infected comprising three political parties ith all 62,303 k-12 schools
by the virus. In particular, the ques- with long records of mutual hostil- in Tamil Nadu (pop.72
tion being asked is why the education ity. “It’s quite evident that education Wmillion) shut down since
ministry and MSBSHSE didn’t call minister Gaikwad — a four-term March 16, prior to the national lock-
off the SSC exam on March 14 after Congress MLA — is taking decisions down decreed by the Central govern-
chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, independently without any account- ment on March 25 due to the danger
invoking the Epidemic Diseases ability to the cabinet,” says a Shiv posed by the Coronavirus pandemic,
Act, 1897 and s.144 of the Criminal Sena leader who preferred to remain the state government has announced
Procedure Code, banned all public anonymous. promotion of 7 million classes I-IX
events and gatherings in Nagpur and Politicians apart, academics are children to the next grade without
Nashik. also flummoxed by Gaikwad’s cava- their having to write any examina-
During the period March 3-20, lier disregard of the cabinet decision tions.
1.7 million class X students of the to shut down schools — and by impli- This decision represents a U-turn
21,000 schools affiliated with the cation — examination halls which for the government. Last September,
state exam board had written exam by definition are public gatherings. the state’s AIADMK government fol-

APRIL 2020 EDUCATIONWORLD 15