An Article by Koel Banerjee

Before Labelling Us, Do Consider the Other Side of the Coin...

By this time, I’m sure that almost everyone in the academic fraternity is well acquainted with the latest trend on social media, #StudentLivesMatter. Few weeks back, I too voiced my opinion on that platform by participating in an online survey.  But never before have I ever felt the need to clarify my stand on this issue (whether final year/semester examinations should be held or not), as I do now.

In this regard, many people, academicians and non-academicians alike, have taken to various public platforms to slam students for taking advantage of the present pandemic situation prevailing in the country, as an opportunity to escape their term-end examinations. Is it wrong if someone or some groups don’t side with these students? No. In fact, alternative views are always welcome for broader introspection and clarity of thought, be it in the path of personal growth or the success of a movement. The fault lies in not being able to acknowledge the argument in its entirety.

Have these people, who are identifying this student community as ‘escapists’, ever bothered to find out if each and every student involved in this movement is speaking against final exams being held? I’m sure most of them haven’t. There exists a section of students under this very banner who wholeheartedly want to appear for their final exams and needless to say, I belong to that umbrella. We know pretty well that if the examinations get scrapped this time then we would have to bear the brunt of it for the rest of our lives, because hopefully Covid won’t last forever but our careers would have to sustain in this fiercely competitive job market. But never before in recent history has students, across the length and breadth of the country stood up against exams being conducted. So, there must be some reason that has prompted us to make our voices heard.

Picture is Taken from Google Images

Remember that catch line doing the rounds on social media during the early days of lock-down, “United We Fall, Divided We Stand”? That didn’t appear out of the blue, rather government advisories, trying to engrave in each and every Indian grey cell that ‘social distancing is by far the most effective shield for containing the spread of the viruses, made us think that way.  Now, this was the scenario back in March, when the country had less than 600 reported cases (564 on March 24, 2020). Cut to the second week of June. With over 2.75 lakh confirmed cases (which have only been increasing at an increasing rate ever since its inception in the country), the same government is leaving no stone unturned to bring people back to the “new normalcy” in the name of reviving economic growth. And ‘social distancing’ in public life? You won’t even find it in the back seat of the car; it’s probably left behind in some abandoned corner of the boot space.  Why the government acted in such haste on the unlock process or what alternative measures could have been implemented, are beyond the scope of this discussion. But even if boosting the economy had been the objective then there should have been a ‘new social life’ in place with a totally renewed set of do’s and don’ts. Unfortunately, there’s nothing of that sort and we are back on the streets with all our pre-Corona practices, only barring for those symbolic masks, that too improperly adorned by many.

It’s very disappointing to learn that even amidst such grim circumstances the government is planning to conduct examinations in July despite predictions of an unprecedented spike in the number of confirmed cases in the country around that time. No matter how much statistical interpretations are denatured according to convenience and the common mass be made to believe that the epidemic has started showing signs of improvement in the country (flattening curves and similar justifications), the “thinking reeds” of the nation, however small they may be in number, know that reality is just the opposite and the coming month has worse in store for us. Even the ‘home centre’ for examination, which is now believed to provide some respite to the candidates, is several kilometres away from the place of residence for many students, implying an impending dependence on overcrowded public transports, where social distancing is a far-fetched luxury. Also, how can we overlook the plight of students living in hostels and messes? The government has never bothered to spare a word on how their safety and hygiene would be ensured in this changed scenario. One need not be a health expert to observe that not only would such compulsions expose thousands of students, teachers, non-teaching staffs and the society at large to the potential threat of falling prey to the virus, it might, God forbid, claim some precious lives as well, which can never be quantified by those figures in government records; because each life lost is a ‘human capital’ lost, a capital or asset (in more general term) which the country had developed or had been nurturing with its scarce resources. Here, some people may frown upon me to argue that if individuals associated with non-academic livelihoods can opt for public transports to reach their workplaces then why not those involved in the academic sphere? I would ask them to find out why schools and colleges were the first to be shut down across the country even before lock-down started, or, why educational institutions were not considered for reopening in the first phase of the unlock-down initiative? Moreover, we are yet to find out what impact this drastic relaxation of containment norms have on our Covid-figures (for that at least 14 days should pass) which emboldens me to warn that there still isn’t any ground for rejoice even if the number of recoveries reportedly surpasses the number of active cases.

So, are we demanding indefinite postponement of term-end examinations till a vaccine becomes available in the market? Certainly not. A vaccine doesn’t happen overnight and neither can it ameliorate all our miseries caused by this highly contagious virus, in the wink of an eye.  But we can certainly wait for the graph to take a downward turn and be somewhere closer to the baseline. Experience of countries severely afflicted by the virus in the western part of the globe (as also China), whom our government had diligently emulated for implementation of lock-down shows that after reaching its zenith, the infection rate gradually abates to the baseline in about two months, on an average. In the Indian context, this reference and some projections by healthcare experts throws light on a positive turn of events in September. Therefore, the government, rather than shoving us - final year/semester examinees - into the high tide (of infections) should ideally wait for the first wave to get over, when the risk factors associated with bringing so many students in close proximity would be minimized to a significant extent, as explained by epidemiological research-based findings. The merit of this demand is further strengthened by WHO epidemiologist and technical lead, Maria van Kerkhove’s apprehension that “asymptomatic patients tend to be younger and without underlying medical conditions.”

In this context, online mode of examination is coming up as a proposed alternative to the existing system of evaluation. But if that is taken resort to for conducting examinations, then what about those 74% Indian households who don’t have any direct access to the internet? It is one thing to utilize an existing infrastructure and another to impose something unfamiliar to a developing online education system in a country like India.

Before drawing to an end, here I have a humble note for my fellow citizens who have been extremely judgmental in labeling this movement as being against the ethos of student welfare - try at least once, to slip into our shoes. The agony and anxieties that come along with a crisis of this magnitude wrecks havoc on our mental well being, just as it does for others. We too have a multitude of aspirations, be it in terms of pursuing higher studies or starting a new job. Because of the way state of affairs have been unfolding in this pandemic stricken world, many of us have been compelled to rethink and remap our career paths, let alone the uncertain future looming ahead.

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