Shivani, a resident of Delhi, is the class XII student. She was already stressed because of her board exams. She was to appear for her Hindi exam on March 20, which got cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Now she is even more stressed as she had to start preparing for various entrance tests for securing admission in a good university. Now she is in a fix as she does not know whether to prepare for her last exam or entrance exam though she is relieved that the government has cancelled all exams keeping in view the safety aspect.

Similarly, Aditya from Lucknow, a Class 10 student, was to proceed to Kota, after his board exam. His father has already made arrangements for him to study in an institute in Kota so that he can start preparing for the Indian Institute of Technology entrance test. But since the examination is cancelled, Aditya’s future plans have become a little uncertain.

The rapidly spreading novel Coronavirus in India is affecting schools and college studies besides examinations and recruitments. The ongoing examinations of CBSE and ICSE board have been postponed. Schools and colleges have also been closed till March 31 in all states, including Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Haryana, Goa, Meghalaya, Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Ladakh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir.

This closure is partial at some places and even absolute in certain others. For instance, schools and colleges in Rajasthan have been closed down, but the ongoing examinations have not been cancelled. The same is the case for Karnataka. On the contrary, in Uttar Pradesh, all schools, colleges, private institutions and universities, except medical educational institutions, have been ordered to be closed by March 31.

However, there have been complaints from several private schools that the management is continuing the examination and teaching work by defying the government order. A private school teacher from Khajani in Gorakhpur district, on the condition of anonymity, informed that his school is conducting the school exams despite clear orders from the government. Also, the teachers are instructed to punch in daily attendance.

The same is also being observed in the neighbouring district of Sant Kabir Nagar, where in private school teachers are being ordered to come daily despite the suspension of teaching activities. Apart from schools, teaching and examinations have been postponed in several higher educational institutions, including IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, IIM Indore, Delhi University, JNU, Nagpur University and Lucknow University. In many universities, entrance examinations for the new session 2020-21 were also going on, which have been deferred by the university administration. The Lucknow University and Aligarh Muslim University are notable among these.

Teachers are also teaching through virtual classrooms in many higher educational institutions. Professor Vinod Kumar of Ramswarup College, Lucknow, told Gaon Connection that although their classes have been completely closed, notes are being provided to the students through virtual classes so that the semester can be completed in time. He said, “Students are being provided with PPT, PDF notes via Google Classroom app, WhatsApp Group and Gmail and they are sending their assignment using the same media.”

He said that he has certain fellow teachers in IITs who are taking classes from home through virtual medium. He, however, also informed that the management of all private colleges is still doing as they please and calling teachers to college. Such is the condition that although no student is visible in the campus, the teachers are definitely coming for fear of losing their jobs.

Several recruitment examinations have also been postponed due to Coronavirus. This includes teacher eligibility test of Chhattisgarh Professional Examination Board, constable recruitment test of ITBP, RBI’s assistant main examination, Bihar Public Service Commission recruitment examinations, Kerala PSC recruitment test, and Delhi Higher Judicial Service mains examination. The army has also postponed all recruitment rallies for the next one month.

However, there are a few competitive examinations which have not been postponed and there is also no clear information available about them on the website. There prevails a situation of general confusion and uncertainty. A candidate from Shahjahanpur (Uttar Pradesh) said that he has to appear in the medical examination of SSC CPO 2018 on March 21, which will include more than 4000 candidates. SSC has not postponed the examination while directing that if a candidate does not attend the medical examination due to Covid-2019, he will be given yet another chance upon showing adequate medical documents.