After two years, students will attempt offline exams, that to their boards. TN students share their anxieties 

For S Nivedha, a Class X student of a government school, the past week has not been a smooth sail. She has been feeling uneasiness and anxiety ahead of May 6, the day when her much-anticipated board exam kicks off; she feels her preparation has not been not enough.

“I am not at all confident about facing the exam. Since Class VIII, I have not appeared in any offline examination due to the pandemic, and now I have to directly write my board exams. I am very nervous about my performance,” said Nivedha, a resident of Velachery. “Whether I will be able to finish my answers on time, whether I will be able to recall all the answers, I don’t know. As the exam date is nearing, I am not able to sleep properly, I am becoming nervous and jittery,” added Nivedha.

A Chinthan, another student, said there haven’t been adequate revision tests before the exam. “Though they have reduced the syllabus, the revision exams were not held properly. Even the model question papers, which are issued every year by the school education department, were not issued for the whole syllabus. Board exams come with a lot of pressure, and I am really concerned,” said Chinthan.

If the exam-related pressure was not enough to handle, the scorching heat and soaring COVID-19 cases have just added to the woes of the students.

“It's so hot that I am not able to concentrate on anything and feel restless. I don’t know how I will write the exam for three hours,” said Sandhya Prakash, another Class X student. The exam will be held in the peak noon hour of 10 am to 1 pm, said Sandhya.

"We have not been given enough time to revise papers also. For English, we have a 12 days gap while for Science there is only one day gap in the timetable," said A Subramani, a Class X student of a government school in Porur.

Teachers are counselling the students to remain calm and appear for the exam confidently, still, they feel the worries of the students are genuine.

"Students are coming to us with their anxiety and apprehensions and we are trying to calm them down through counselling. But it is a fact that they don't have enough practice to write the offline exam. Three revision examinations were scheduled but due to the spike in COVID cases in January, schools were closed again, and only two revision exams were held and many schools conducted it casually," said Tamil Nadu Graduate Teacher's Federation General Secretary P Patrick Raymond.