Many private schools do not want to conduct offline examinations for students even though the State government is yet to decide on the modality of how the exams will be conducted.
Private school managements say that the decision has been taken after consulting parents who feel that it would not be safe for students to write examination amidst the rise in COVID-19 cases in the State. Many private schools had completed their examination earlier this month.
Mansoor Ali Khan, member, board of management, Delhi Public Group of Schools, said that they had only conducted offline examinations for class nine while the rest of the grades had online examinations. “Even class nine students were given the option to write the examination either offline or online. Many students who were not in town chose to appear for the examination online. Class ten students will, however, have to write the board examination,” he said.
D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary of Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, said that examinations – whether online or offline – were held after consulting parents on how they should be conducted.
Sumanth Narayan, principal, Shanthinikethana School said that after they saw a rise in cases, they announced a timetable and completed the examinations last week.
Sources in the Department of Primary and Secondary Education said that they would issue a circular on Wednesday on how examinations and assessments should be conducted – particularly for government school students.
Prashanthi S., whose daughters study in class five and seven in a CBSE affiliated school, said that the management had decided to conduct online examinations after a section of parents submitted a memorandum. “Half the assessment will be based on the online examination. The rest will be based on projects and assignments that they had submitted earlier in the year,” she said.