Virus scare worsens exam stress for Class 12 students and parents

About 4.6 lakh science stream students attended Biology and Botany exams, while over 2.5 lakh commerce students attended Business Mathematics and Statistics.

In addition, more than 56,000 students pursuing vocational and industrial courses also appeared for exams in various subjects, including Basic Electrical Engineering, Automobile Engineering, Mechanical Engineering among others.

“I was hoping to get more time to revise the portion, as I expected that the exams might be postponed. But the Biology paper was not that difficult,” said S Balaji, a Class 12 student studying in a private school in Pammal.

He said though the government ensured facilities to wash hands and took other precautionary measures at the exam centre, there was a sense of fear among the students. “However, once I started writing the exam, the fear slowly disappeared,” he said.

P Malarmathi, a commerce stream student from a government aided school in Pallavaram, said she came to the exam centre with her parents, who stayed till the end and then dropped her home. The subject she had to attend, Business Mathematics, was easy, Malarmathi said.

Many parents had expected that the government would reschedule Class 11 and 12 board exams, as the number of coronavirus cases has been on the rise across the country.

“Even nation-wide exams by CBSE, ICSE and ISC were postponed. Why didn’t the State government come with a plan to reschedule examinations for the State board students,” asked M Sukumaran, a member of the Parents-Teachers Association of a school in Tambaram. Pointing out that even UGC had asked the universities and colleges to postpone the exams till March 31, he added: “We are disappointed in the way the authorities have handled the situation in conducting board exams here.”