Cancel exams

The coronavirus cases in our country have reached the 20,000 mark in 68 days. China reached the same level in around 63-65 days; hence our situation is not much different. Everyday more than a thousand cases are being reported. Like everyone else, students are also unsettled and highly concerned about the future of their studies. We are unable to focus in such an anxious and uncertain environment. Schools and colleges have been closed since March, leaving syllabuses incomplete. Some institutes have conducted online classes, though their efficacy is questionable.

It is surely unreasonable and even dangerous to even consider conducting exams under these circumstances? We cannot even go to mosques; how then can parents be expected to send our children to examination halls crowded with hundreds of students? Are exams more important and valuable than prayers? We cannot risk our lives and the lives of our families just for the sake of exams. According to the WHO, corona particles can stay on a piece of paper for up to five days and just by touching one sheet of paper, one infected person can spread the virus to hundreds of others. The only valid option is that local examination boards should follow the example of the Cambridge Board and cancel the upcoming examinations and find an alternate method to assign grades. We need them end the uncertainty and make a decision post-haste.

Syed Zain

Rawalpindi