The Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) helpline has been flooded with calls from parents and students demanding that the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination be put off for the time being due to the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in the state.

Subject experts and psychologists have been roped in to answer the helplines and clear doubts of students and help them with managing exam stress. But in the past few days the experts have been receiving different kind of calls as parents are losing their cool, with some even verbally abusing the staff and asking them to connect the call to Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar, one of the helpline staff told The Hindu.

A teacher added, “The parents are asking us if we can issue in writing that their child will not get COVID-19. The parents are anxious and go on a monologue asking us why the exam cannot be postponed.”

“Over the past couple of days, very few people have called to ask any clarification related to subjects. They have been asking us about the precautionary measures. The other day, a student called me and told me that she was feeling uncomfortable wearing a mask for a long period of time. When I told her she had to wear the mask for the exam, she asked me to try wearing the mask for three hours and then hung up,” said another teacher reagarding the number of calls received in the SSLC helpline.

While some calls even include questions like whether they would bear the treatment cost in private hospitals if the students get infected by Covid-19 while some students are asking helpline officials if they would be allowed to write exam wearing PPE kits.

The SSLC exam has been scheduled from June 25 to July 4 and a total of 8.48 lakh students have registered for it.

Also read: Karnataka education dept forms committee to track fake SSLC exam news

Source: The Hindu