Parents of school students staged a protest on Sunday against the proposal of the Haryana Government to hold Board exams for Classes 5 and 8 in April 2022.
The protest was held by parents of Class 5 and Class 8 students studying in 12 schools across Gurugram governed by CBSE, CISCE, and IB Boards.
It was held at Leisure Valley in Gurugram.
The parents contended that after 650 days of school closures, it will be difficult to sit for the exams for children who are already struggling to overcome learning gaps.
A mother, whose son is studying at an ICSE-board private school in Gurgaon in class VIII, said the decision was irrational and would create more confusion for students.
A new Board exam will create additional pressure on them, they said.
Children are already preparing for their term 2 final exams, while dealing with COVID restrictions. Many have not had digital access to classrooms, and have been struggling with hybrid teaching.
Trying to prepare for a new Board exam will be impossible for them, they said.
The proposed BSEH (Board of Secondary Education, Haryana) syllabus differs from syllabi being taught in many schools. Students from a large number of schools are not familiar with this syllabus, and it is unfair to expect them to study it in a little over a month, said the protesting parents.
The parents will be presenting their case to the Haryana Education Department and the state Chief Minister.
The matter is already a subject of a court case — Haryana United Schools & others vs. State of Haryana and others — at the Chandigarh High Court.
It will be heard next on Monday.
Private schools’ associations on Wednesday said the primary objective of the Board of School Education Haryana (BSEH) behind holding Class 8 board exam was to fill the empty coffers by charging high fee.
“The BSEH has fixed ₹5,000 per school registration fee, and ₹550 examination fee. There are about 2,000 private schools in state and nearly 4.5 lakh students. So, the BSEH will make around ₹25 crore in a single stroke,” representatives of private schools’ associations said in a news conference.
“At the core of board’s decision to hold compulsory examination of Class 8 is to earn money which is not acceptable to schools and parents,” they added.
The associations said they will move a fresh petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court challenging the decision to hold board exams for Class 8 in all schools, irrespective of the boards they are affiliated with.
Vice-president of Haryana Progressive Schools’ Conference, Suresh Chandra said the decision comes when the students have already missed a lot of syllabus due to the Covid-19 pandemic and parents are under financial crunch.
Source: The Indian Express