[poloman]

Originally Posted by PetrolheadRup

Covid is one of the reasons because of which many students want postponement, which I agree with you, is a very lame excuse.
Many parts of the country are severely affected by floods.
I can't understand one thing if authorities have postponed exams for 4 months already, how will one more month of postponement (when the flood situation will be over) lead to severe damage to academic schedule. This has been turned into a political slugfest with the government not addressing students' concerns and instead is making illogical claims.

We are talking about national level prestigious exams here. India is a big country and some or other things will keep happening in various parts of the country. So there won't be any good time at all. Highlighting one or two isolated incidents can't over ride the overwhelming concern for the future and career of lakhs of students. The counter argument against one more month postponement is that the academic year is already delayed and should not be any further delays.

I agree Govt should listen to the genuine demands and make appropriate arrangements. Transport for exams is a very genuine concern.

I am 43 and at a more vulnerable age, went to office on multiple occasions. So feel embarrassed when 20 year olds running scared for a 3 hour exam.

Originally Posted by am1m

Guys, and the Mods, request that we have a separate thread for the JEE/NEET issue.





Like you guys have correctly pointed out, this has become more of a political thing, rather than a covid-related issue. This thread has been a great resource of medical and practical information, am hoping it does not get sidetracked into discussing what is now an issue that is relevant no doubt, but is simply being magnified by politicians just to score some points.

Everything has been discussed in this thread and had a heavy over dose of politics as well. So not sure how only this issue can be deemed political.

[am1m]

Guys, and the Mods, request that we have a separate thread for the JEE/NEET issue.

Originally Posted by poloman

The thread is absolutely silent on a major COVID related event happening currently. The student upheaval on the conduct of JEE/NEET exams.

Originally Posted by PetrolheadRup

This has been turned into a political slugfest with the government not addressing students' concerns and instead is making illogical claims.

Like you guys have correctly pointed out, this has become more of a political thing, rather than a covid-related issue. This thread has been a great resource of medical and practical information, am hoping it does not get sidetracked into discussing what is now an issue that is relevant no doubt, but is simply being magnified by politicians just to score some points.

[ishlinea7260]

Originally Posted by poloman

I am 43 and at a more vulnerable age, went to office on multiple occasions. So feel embarrassed when 20 year olds running scared for a 3 hour exam.

Precisely, the 20 year old students have 50 year old parents and 70 - 80 year old grandparents they will be at risk too.
Youngsters might not get the disease but they may well spread it.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by poloman

Everything has been discussed in this thread and had a heavy over dose of politics as well. So not sure how only this issue can be deemed political.

Fair enough, but I think we've all done a great job keeping the political aspects of the covid issues out of this thread.

Anyway, the request was for a separate thread to discuss that issue, not to not discuss it at all. The mods will decide if that makes sense.

[DigitalOne]

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

I have been following this UK doctor Dr. John Campbell's YouTube channel since March. (I think he was recommended in this thread only initially )

He has been a sober, unbiased, scientific (often pedantic ) source of Covid coverage.

Dr. John Campbell presents Belgian study of over 8000 patients which concluded that HCQ given at right doses (this is key!!) reduced mortality by 30%.

The good doctor has just made himself a great many enemies!!

If you are pressed for time, just watch the first 5 minutes.

https://youtu.be/2uzXHnUViro

[Thad E Ginathom]

Shame on you guys, who think it is a really good idea for the young people to lock themselves in rooms with lots of others at this time. I'm just glad that some of them have more sense. You might be prepared to take that risk, but please, at least respect those of them who do not want to. I would hope that those who do not take exams now would be given another chance, if things improve, without having to wait a whole extra year.

We are going to see, over the next weeks, children returning to school all over the world. I don't know if this should or should or should not happen. I suspect that it is a dangerous experiment. We'll see.

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

Dr. John Campbell presents Belgian study of over 8000 patients which concluded that HCQ given at right doses (this is key!!) reduced mortality by 30%.

HCQ has been credited/discredited so many times. At the moment, the general view is that it doesn't do any good. But if there is fresh evidence, then certainly it should be taken seriously.

I suspect that the medical profession (even if some of the pharma industry are praying that the cure, if there is one, doesn't turn out to be something cheap and out of patent) has never been more open-minded than it is at this time over potentially useful treatments. Here's a roundup of six current maybes: Six of the most promising treatments for Covid-19 so far.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by ishlinea7260

Precisely, the 20 year old students have 50 year old parents and 70 - 80 year old grandparents they will be at risk too.
Youngsters might not get the disease but they may well spread it.

An example on somewhat similar note, just now my uncle who is an Orthopedic Surgeon is confirmed Corona Positive. I was in touch with my uncle day before yesterday as we stay in same home they had organized my birthday celebration among family members. My grandparents are 85+ year old and grandmother is diabetic. All of us are now in home quarantine. Biggest worry is health of my grandparents at the moment.

[DigitalOne]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Shame on you guys, who think it is a really good idea for the young people to lock themselves in rooms with lots of others at this time. ...
We are going to see, over the next weeks, children returning to school all over the world.

Karnataka CET was conducted without any fuss on July 30th and 31st. 1.8 lakh students wrote the exam.

Haven't schools been open in Europe and Asia for couple of months now? At least this article from early July says there have been no issues.

Source

Reopened schools in Europe and Asia have largely avoided coronavirus outbreaks. They have lessons for the U.S.

Source

Their European counterparts — such as Denmark, Austria and Germany — that began sending children back to classrooms in April and early May, haven’t seen significant increases in new cases. And experts are cautiously optimistic that sending children back to school may be relatively safe.

The point is Exams and school reopenings are political questions. Europe and Asian countries (other than India) are taking scientific decisions based on data. US is facing a election; so school reopening is huge political issue.

[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Shame on you guys, who think it is a really good idea for the young people to lock themselves in rooms with lots of others at this time. I'm just glad that some of them have more sense. You might be prepared to take that risk, but please, at least respect those of them who do not want to. I would hope that those who do not take exams now would be given another chance, if things improve, without having to wait a whole extra year.
...

To be candid, no one is forcing anyone to take any exams. The entrance exams have always been optional. The choice is with the students.
As for conducting them later; when is this later? We have no idea.
So those who wish to take the exam can do so now, the rest, next year.

Why is this such an issue?

[Cessna182]

As a parent myself, I will go against the grain here and say that the exams should be conducted. Yes it presents a risk. However, I see people at shopping malls, cafes and restaurants everywhere. Lockdown has been lifted all across. If you can spend a few hours inside a mall shopping for clothes and groceries, how is it such a big deal if you sit for an examination?

India is now the leading covid case contributor in the world because of the horribly executed prevention steps that relied more on lathi wielding cops than actual scientific insights. But that isn't stopping people from going about their daily lives, right? Most exam centers are not AC, so that reduces the risk further.

[srishiva]

In Karnataka SSLC, PUC and CET exams were held. In addition to that engineering exams are also going on (maybe it ended today). Even people infected had separate facilities where they took the exams.

With right preparations, it cant be that difficult (again its been done) even for our authorities. We have ready made opposition to everything being done. Even Greta Thunberg has joined !

[PetrolheadRup]

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

Karnataka CET was conducted without any fuss on July 30th and 31st. 1.8 lakh students wrote the exam.

It would not be right to say that KCET and other exams were conducted very well. While many centres saw SOPs being followed, a significant number of centres showed complete disregard for social distancing outside the centres. Two students were seated on a single bench which means a distance of hardly 3 feet.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Shame on you guys, who think it is a really good idea for the young people to lock themselves in rooms with lots of others at this time. I'm just glad that some of them have more sense.

.

Sir no one is forcing any one to appear in the exam. I believe an extra chance should be provided to those who do not wish to appear now. If working professionals have to go out for work in order to save their livelihood, why can't 18 year old students do the same only for a day? Repeated postponement has its own disadvantages.

Originally Posted by poloman

We are talking about national level prestigious exams here. India is a big country and some or other things will keep happening in various parts of the country. So there won't be any good time at all.

I did not want to raise the issue of floods since I myself am not in an affected area. However, in an interview, 15 days back, the director of NTA (the conducting agency) said that they were monitoring the flood situation and were hopeful of it getting improved. Hence the problem of floods is not trivial and must not be ignored. Now that the floods are still there the NTA must address students' concerns and take necessary steps instead of repeating the same points.

I am an aspirant and I do want postponement (even 2/3 weeks is fine if flood situation improves), not because of covid which I think is not a big problem if precautions are followed, but since many others would face problems in travelling and also put financial stress on their families.
Students also have a trust deficit after seeing multiple failures of implementation of SOPs, which many say look good only on paper. Thus many are apprehensive of appearing in large scale exams when state level could not be conducted in a proper manner.

[headbanger]

There are so many perspectives to this situation that whatever option one may select, it will not be perfect and there will be a certain discomfort in one or the other section of the folks.

From a covid perspective, the virus only sees new hosts. Any kind of activity that involves locking up folks in rooms is bound to create a risk. The other angle is that the risk penetrates to the immediate families these kids are residing with. As for government catering to arrangements for safer examinations, I am curious to understand what those arrangements are. By and large, response from state or centre governments has been just an information explosion with no clear direction.

It's a question of risk assessment and which side of the story one sees. We are heading the covid race with almost 80k cases per day or are losing 1000 folks per day.

As a parent, does someone risk a year in child's education plan Or does he risk his elderly folks residing with him? Or one follows the best practices to try and convince himself that the risk has been minimised to an extent.

And in all this chaos, the peer pressure that the kid is getting into. Who is taking exams and who is not? What do I stand to lose if I don't appear this year? This pressure exerts the parents too. Hence the opposition to all options.

Bottom line is "Is Covid that scary to derail our life plans?"

[ABHI_1512]

Okay, so JEE/NEET has entered this thread now and apparently this has some relevance with the COVID situation. Without going into the specifics, here are some points to ponder

1. Some section is certainly against the exam as they are very much fearful of the virus. To take an exam is always about choice and this is no different.

2. Since this is a national level exam, comparing this exam with a state CET like Karnataka is not fair. Many states and regions are still following lockdown days and that bit has to be taken into consideration.

3. The north eastern states primarily Assam and Bihar as well is battling severe floods. To expect students from those region to sit for an exam is little to hard on them.

4. The main problem is about transportation since the guys from the small towns and the places around the cities. Since local and passenger trains are off the grid, I can only empathise with the students of those regions and are rightly justified in asking for postponement.

There was a time when I used to curse myself for living in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. I failed to appear in major entrance exams because the admit cards reached late and the nearest center for appearing in many exams was Guwahati, around 360 kms from Itanagar then. I still remember that my entrance exam for DCE Delhi was on the same date as another exam and I couldn’t appear in either of them because of late delivery of the admit cards and I am talking about this scenario 25 years back !

Things have improved since then but this pandemic has again put back lot many things. Students from little towns should be given as much a fair shot at the exams as the students from the cities. A fair chance to all is not possible in the present scenario and authorities should find an alternate way.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by am1m

Anyway, the request was for a separate thread to discuss that issue, not to not discuss it at all.

Agreed. No more discussions on students / exams please. Thank you.