On December 10, more than half a million students from across India attended a live interactive meeting with the Minister of Education, which was broadcast simultaneously on Facebook and Twitter. The speech was intended to discuss student concerns about upcoming college entrance exams, which are surrounded by a lot of uncertainty due to the Corona pandemic.
Although the meeting was described as an interactive session, it was largely two parts talking separately without seeming to be listening to the other. While the minister praised the education system in India for overcoming the challenges posed by the spread of the epidemic, comments from the students were continued on their suffering in order to cope with the current situation and their requests to postpone the date. Exams.
These exams are extremely important because their results determine the career prospects of students. Campaigns calling for its postponement have almost occupied social media since the first general shutdown in March due to the spread of the Corona outbreak which has led to all examinations being suspended. Among the exams that have been deferred are the Common Entrance Exam known as "Jeff" and the National Entrance Exam "Nate", both of which are of the utmost importance, and their results determine the eligibility to study in the fields of medicine and engineering.
Education in India is a highly competitive arena, especially in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics where competition is most intense. For example, prestigious institutes of technology in India typically accept 1 in 50 applicants. (For comparison: Harvard University accepts 1 in 19 applicants, while Oxford University accepts 1 in 6 applicants. )
With hundreds of thousands of students applying to respected science schools each year, some very difficult exams, such as the “Jeff” and “Nate” exams, have been specially designed to exclude large numbers of applicants. Losing a score or two on such exams can lead to loss of luck. Admission of students in thousands of ranks.
Some students spend most of their adolescence preparing for these exams, and most of them enroll in training institutes specializing in passing these exams, which they prefer to prepare for them in relation to any another concern. All this in the hope that their admission to one of the colleges of the respected name will lead to them getting an average annual salary of around $ 50 thousand. It's a price worth the effort to do so in a country where per capita income barely exceeds $ 2,000.
This year, however, most students were unable to prepare for exams as normally required due to foreclosure and the disproportionate shift to online education. During the hour it took for their interactive meeting with the Minister, the students complained about the irregular Internet connection and the difficulties of studying by video, which made it difficult to follow the educational courses as well as evaluation of their quality and effectiveness. As a result, many felt that they had theoretically studied the program, but in reality they did not understand very little and therefore were not well prepared for the most important exams of their lives.