Students keep distance, teachers wear masks — CBSE’s COVID-19 advisory for exam centres

The CBSE advisory, issued Tuesday, also stated that all examination centres should have rows of benches placed at a distance of one meter from each other.

Students sanitise their hands outside a school in Bikaner in the wake of coronavirus outbreak | PTI file photo

New Delhi: In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked all examination centres to ensure that students maintain distance between themselves.

The examinations for CBSE classes 10 and 12 started in February and will go on until 30 March.

According to a CBSE advisory issued Tuesday, all examination centres across the country have to make students sit at a distance of one meter from each other.

This is being done at all examination centres, starting Wednesday, CBSE officials said.

The advisory stated all examination centres should have rows of benches placed at a distance of one meter from each other. While earlier, there used to be 24 students in one classroom, now only 12 students will sit in a classroom at a time.

Apart from maintaining distance, the board has also asked invigilators to either wear a mask or cover their faces with handkerchiefs while doing their invigilation duty. They have also been asked to use their own sanitisers in the classroom.

“A slew of instructions has been given to the teachers at exam centres that will help contain the spread of COVID-19. This also includes informing students that they cannot stand in groups outside the classrooms. Students usually tend to do that after and before exams to discuss question papers and syllabus. These are unusual circumstances that we have to deal with, hence such measures are required,” said a senior CBSE official.

Students who are coughing or sneezing will also be made to sit separately so that the fear of infection or contamination is less, the official added.

No decision yet on delaying session

While there are restrictions until the examinations are over, nothing has been decided on delaying the new session yet, which usually begins by 1 April.

All COVID-19-related restrictions are in place until 31 March, following which the situation will be reviewed and the board will decide whether to delay the session, said CBSE sources.

Board examinations for nearly 50 out of 165 subjects are yet to be held.

After Wednesday, the examinations are supposed to be held on 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 28 and 30 March.

However, the examinations on subjects, which have nearly one lakh candidates, will be held between 17 and 24 March. The rest of the subjects have candidates between 3,000 and 58,000, approximately.

The board had earlier asked all the examination centres to make hand sanitisers and masks available for students. It also asked all schools to educate students about the coronavirus infection and how they can prevent its spread.

Meanwhile, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV), the central government’s residential schools, have announced early summer vacations — from 21 March to 25 May.

All JNVs, except those in south India, usually have summer vacations in May-June. JNVs in southern states have vacations in April-May.