Results of Class X, Class XII sans exams : Voices of discontent
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 21, 2021 -

Something totally new and even unheard of and again something which no one had experienced earlier and this could be one important reason why voices of discontent have come forth from some students who have been assessed, given marks and declared pass by the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur (BOSEM) and Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur (COHSEM) sans exams.

The reason why the Class X and Class XII exams this year were cancelled need not be repeated here and while The Sangai Express had earlier acknowledged the new approach to be adopted, on the ground that the performance of a student should not necessarily be judged by how one performs in a three hour exercise called the annual examination, the approach adopted by BOSEM and COHSEM has obviously not satisfied some students.

The disgruntled students always have the option of physically appearing for the exams when the conducive time comes, but the voice of discontent should not be merely brushed aside.

For Class XII students, taking their past performance in Class X and Class XI may not have posed much of an issue, for it is there on record but how meticulously were their performance in Class XII, that is when online classes were conducted, taken into consideration ?

Were all the stakeholders taken into confidence while working out the modalities for awarding the marks ?

An important question this is and it would have helped so much more if only BOSEM and COHSEM had spelt out in detail the recommendations submitted by the 14 member team constituted to develop an alternative/evaluation mechanism to assess the students of Class X and Class XII.

Were the recommendations given the right dosage of publicity for the students, parents, guardians to digest ?

This is a question which only the Government can answer and it would have helped so much more if it can be known whether written inputs had been sought from the schools on how best to award marks to the different students.

If suggestions had been sought, then it would helped so much more if the Government had made it known that out of the suggestions received from the different schools, they had streamlined the inputs and put in place certain mechanisms.

This is important, very important and this is a suggestion raised not on hindset, but should serve as an eye opener for the Government on how to go about implementing policies.

Take all stakeholders into confidence, is a line that has been repeated many times but the question still remains whether this line was taken note of when the Government took a decision as crucial as doing away with the Class X and Class XII exams and adopt a totally new approach to award marks to the students.

It is also in line to remind that this is an extraordinary time and the measures taken up by the Government should be understood in the context of the extraordinariness of the time.

This is where it becomes important for the Government to seriously study how soon can the exams be held for students who want to opt for a written exam.

And for that to happen, the spread of the virus has be controlled first.