Morung Express news
Dimapur | February 14
The exams have been allowed to go ahead as scheduled but restrictions on transporting students to the exam centres have had parents as well as the students distressed.
At various exam centres, guardians of the students were seen waiting to take their wards home. Several were also seen parking their vehicles outside exam centres and walking home after dropping their wards to avoid the unnecessary hassle of going through rounds of questioning from the bandh volunteers. One exam invigilator had to undergo eight rounds of questioning from volunteers at different checkpoints enroute her assigned exam centre. Some bandh volunteers were also seen ferrying their children and joining the bandh afterwards.
In Kohima, restrictions were lifted on public transport, however parents in Dimapur were not as lucky as the restriction imposed on the movement of public transport forced many students to walk to the exam centres. The directive to parents and guardians to wait at the exam centres after dropping their wards further complicated things for parents with more than one children appearing the exams at different centres.
One such parent, who resides at Imkonglenden, recounted the nerve-racking experience of executing the process of dropping three children to three different exam centres. She said that two of the children are appearing the HSSLC exams at two different centres – one at Bethesda Higher Secondary School and the other at St. John Higher Secondary School. The third is appearing the class 11 finals at Pranab Vidyapith, the exams for which are scheduled at 1:00 pm.
While the parent was able to drop the elder two by car, the third had to walk. Later after the exams, only one could return home by car while the other two had to return on foot. The parent said that after dropping the first child at Bethesda Higher Secondary School, the car had to wait at St. John Higher Secondary School forcing the other two to trek home.
Parents not financially sound and without personal transport have the additional burden of hiring and making autorickshaws wait for over three hours. Further, few drivers dare to venture out even with students onboard. While the transportation hassles are clear and present, the perceived psychological impact is another. Many students said that the ongoing bandh has not affected them considerably but expressed apprehension about the effect on their overall exam performance. They were though relieved that the exams were not postponed.
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