Schools examinations are though progressing well in Kashmir but the conduct of examinations amid increasing academic stress on the students triggered by suspension of physical classes during last two consecutive years will ultimately have a bearing on their lifetime achievements. Since academic stress comes next to health stress triggered by back to back two high intensity waves of pandemic, seriousness of the students in the examinations is not of the highest intensity which we used to witness in the times of pre-covid normalities . As the increasing health stress on the people has forced the government to reduce syllabus for board examinations by 30% this year, the performance in the examinations could be rated excellent but at the end of the day reducing syllabus to 30% would have a telling effect on the performance of students in NEET examination held annually for undergraduate medical and engineering courses and henceforth the ultimate achievement of qualifying NEET examination can’t be achieved by most of those whose syllabus has been reduced by 30% for board examinations this year. Before deciding a cut in the syllabus for the board examinations broader consultations with all stakeholders on increasing the performance level of the students in the examinations would probably suit better the future of the careers of the students appearing in board examinations in Jammu & Kashmir these days.
Better it would have been for the J&K Board of School Education (J&K BOSE) to take on Board even the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) before taking a decision on syllabus cut for any examination. Rather a consensus over the syllabus cut between J&K BOSE and CBSE would have suited better the academic prospects of the students in one or the other examination keeping in view the fact that a consensus is the only solution to any contentious issue in a scenario of worst ever global health crisis.
Interestingly the timing of the board examinations conducted by J&K Board of School Education (J&K BOSE) and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is quite different and as such it is just possible that CBSE may or may not allow cut in syllabus by 30% in the same examinations to be conducted by it in March next year. So a discrimination in the syllabus cut for examination of one and the same class by two different boards would obviously having a bearing on the performance of the students in one and the same examination . Better it would have been for the J&K Board of School Education (J&K BOSE) to take on Board even the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) before taking a decision on syllabus cut for any examination. Rather a consensus over the syllabus cut between J&K BOSE and CBSE would have suited better the academic prospects of the students in one or the other examination keeping in view the fact that a consensus is the only solution to any contentious issue in a scenario of worst ever global health crisis.
