It’s not just Bidhannagar Mela (Utsav) that has got rescheduled this year. Due to the impending general elections, a number of events have had to be rescheduled, causing mixed feelings among residents.
The International Kolkata Book Fair opened yesterday, instead of the end of the month as is the norm, so students can attend it before their examinations. Board examinations have been brought forward this year to avoid a clash with the polls and students, teachers, guardians and school administrators all believe that students have the most to lose in such a scenario.
Such is the schedule that students fear they many even would have to study on Saraswati Puja - February 14 - this year, ignoring a customary taboo.
Study time cut short
“As it is, students have inadequate time to prepare for the Boards. And now if the exams are held in advance it’ll only add pressure. They’ll have little time to revise and prepare for mock tests. It’s unfair to students,” says Joymala Das, parent of Shubhan Das, a Class XII student at National Public School in Baguiati.
Rishika Arora, a Class X student appearing for the Boards from Hariyana Vidya Mandir, says they have very little time before selection tests and pre-board exams. “Neither do we have time to finish the syllabus nor do we have time to get into revision mode. As a result, a lot of my friends and I cannot appear for mock tests that are being held in various coaching institutes. We are lagging,” she says.
Tuition trouble
Even private tutors are a worried lot. “Even if the exams are brought forward by a couple of weeks it makes a huge difference. Moreover, this announcement was made rather late in the day. Usually, word on unofficial examination dates start floating in the circuit from November but this time the advanced dates became known only in mid-December,” says CK Block-based chemistry tutor Gopa Choudhury.
She reckons Class X students would manage in the reduced time but that it would be difficult for those in Class XII.
Sujata Das, English literature and language tutor of CE Block, says there’s no substitute for last-minute revision. “But if there’s a paucity of time students would be forced to study selective topics and depend more on question suggestions than doing a thorough revision of the entire syllabus,” she says. “The Boards had slashed the syllabus during the pandemic but there has been no precedent of doing so before elections.”
Competitive examination coaching centres still don’t know what to expect. “The first phase of Joint Entrance Exams this year begins on January 24. While those in charge would have taken care to ensure they don’t clash with any preponed Board exam, the two exams may not be spaced out much and students’ attention would get divided,” says Giren Chandra Roy, managing director of Mivigyan Academy in AA Block, that imparts Joint and Neet exam coaching.
“The second phase of Joint Entrance Exams is tentatively timed for the first week of April and Neet in May. Even if the elections get in the way, it is too late to advance the exams. They can only be postponed and that would be welcome,” Roy says. “Students always feel they could have done better had they got just two more days to study.”
Fear of violence
In a poll-bound year, parents and teachers have worries greater than exam schedules.
“The school curriculum is designed to combine school activities and exams, maintaining a proper balance. But in the years when polls are held, the routine gets upset. Moreover, poll violence is expected to peak this year and guardians have said they would stop sending their children to school once the dates are announced,” says S.M. Reyaz Ahmed, headmaster at Bidhananagar Government High School in BD Block.
He adds that some parents have said they would not allow children to even step out of home till the entire process of polling is over. “They are scared for the children’s safety. In such a state, even if we rearrange school activities in the new time frame, how will they be executed if pupils stop coming to school?”
“Every election our school is completely taken over by government officials. We have to finish everything in terms of course completion and syllabus before the announcement. Also, most staff and teachers have to be present on campus or elsewhere for election duty. Sometimes we have to go to remote areas on poll duty where there are no suitable places to sleep for the night or even proper toilets. This time too the same is expected to happen. On top of that, there is always a danger of gang wars and political violence. As teachers, we are very apprehensive about such things,” said Camelia Islam, a teacher at Lake Town Government Sponsored Girls’ High School.
Government school teachers are dreading election duty. “The major workload of polls falls on government employees. I have been on poll booth duty in rural areas where no vehicle can reach. Since we have to be away for all this, the school syllabus, term examinations, practical work, and other work have to be finished in a hurry. It affects Board exam students the most but even the rest aren’t spared,” says Samar Talukdar, a teacher at Narain Das Bangur Memorial Multipurpose School, in Bangur Avenue.
Cupid on leave
February 14 would be an eventful day this year. Or not. Valentine’s Day is coinciding with Saraswati puja but it is also hours before their exams. CBSE Class XII students have exams like entrepreneurship on the next day. Higher Secondary students have Bengali and English (as first language) on February 16.
And herein begins the dilemma. Can they afford to pair up and go for a film? Even if they don’t, can they celebrate the puja with full gusto? A teenage boy was overheard at PNB More the other day, trying to make his mother understand how desperately he needed his last-minute revision. But the mom would not waver from tradition. “I don’t care what exam you have! You are not supposed to study on Saraswati puja!”
A Class XI student of Bidhananagar Government High School says he’s earned his leave for the day and will not sit to study. “My friends and I shall attend the puja in school and visit other schools and puja pandals. Some are planning to go for a movie too,” he said.
Srijani Pal, a Class XI student of Labanhrad Vidyapith, says: “Usually my mother drops and picks me up from school but on Saraswati Puja this year she has allowed me to go out with friends on my own. Internal exams have been brought forward but I won’t touch my text books on the day.”
Niladri Saha, a Class XI student of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Education, says he shall not just be attending but will also be organising the puja in school. “In Class XI, we are seeing no rescheduling of exams. Any changes will happen in the next session, April onwards,” he says. “As for our seniors, they are studying hard, and even though the book fair has been brought forward, we will perhaps visit it only in the weekends.”
