The school children appearing in the ongoing CBSE term-I Board examinations of the 12th class and 10th classes face a harrowing time in examination halls due to the freezing temperatures in the snow bound region of the mountain states, where the ongoing fresh spell of widespread snowfall has frozen and locked life for the last 24 hours.
This is not new ordeal that children and teachers face in the mountains during the CBSE or state board exams. In fact, the children in mountain region have become the victims of what the teachers in snowbound region call the “tropical city-centric model of education and development” that has been imposed upon by the academicians sitting in their comfy airconditioned office rooms of the cities.
This city-centric model has been perpetuated by the decision markers in India over the years, who have a little concern for the children living and schooling in the snowbound region. The students and their parents have to come to the examinations centre before onset of snowfall and hire the rooms in the towns where the CBSE or state board centres are located.
How they face harsh miseries in frigid cold in the region send chills down the spine. District disaster management authority Lahaul and Spiti on Friday reported that Sissu had 09 Inch, Keylong, district headqulater had one 01 Inch, Udaipur 01 Inch, Kaza: 2.5 Inch of snowfall in the last 24 hours when the students were taking up the examinations.
"Thank god they got tandoor to heat up their hands and body that enable them to attempt the examinations,", says Tashi Karpa", a resident of Lahaul. Even reaching the examination centre would have been difficult, had they stayed back in the villages. As many as over 35 link roads were blocked and people in Spiti faced blackout as transmission lines were snaped due to snow today, resented Spitians.
In fact, snow snaps electricity supply and limited communication networks in winter months in the region every year. "This makes studying impossible during night hours. Even they do not get regular supply of water in Keylong, district headquarters, leave alone in remoter villages, as the water pipes freeze for days together due to the sub-zero temperatures", rued Chering, a student in Keylong.
The story is no different in other snowbound areas. The students face these hydra-headed problems every year. There is no healthy proper heating system in schools and at the examination centres, transportation is disrupted or non-existent. They face blackouts due to snapped electricity lines and frozen water supplies due to heavy snowfall, they pointed out.
The children are subjected to these miseries every year in higher region of Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti, Pangi, Bharmour, Chamba and Shimla districts in Himachal and in Leh-Ladakh, snowbound areas of Uttarakhand and in the Northeast region during winter months.
This time the CBSE term-I board examinations turned out be doubly so. The parents and their children made to the CBSE examination centres early morning, even as the CBSE examinations started at 1130 AM. They found that CBSE did not make any heating arrangements in the examination centres in schools across Himachal, said the parents. "There were no heating arrangements in schools in capital city of Shimla, leave alone other centres in other areas", complained the students.
Adding to the complication of the CBSE term-I examinations was introduction of the OMR(optical marks rating) sheets for the first time. The students, who were not optimally well conversant with the OMR sheets, pattern and model of question papers say they get confused over the answer choices given in the OMR sheets.
Secondly, printing of big bold numbers across the question papers added to the confusion and distraction. The blocked line of numbers were so bold in the question paper that it distracted mind and even blurred the words of some questions, making some words ineligible, said the students.
There are in fact dozens of schools affiliated to CBSE in Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti and 15 schools in Ladakh and dozens in the northeast where the students are taking up the CBSE ORM based term 1 examinations. "The students did not attend schools for long 18 months and CBSE introduced OMRs and new pattern for the first time. It was something that many schools could not make the students conversant with the new system due to lack of communication and connectivity in the mountain region", said the teachers.
It is not for the first time that CBSE is holding its board examinations in winter months. CBSE and other state Boards have been doing it every year in February and March months, when the entire region in the 12 mountain states freeze in cold and is mostly under a thick blanket of snow.
Take NEET and JEE tests. CBSE, till 2018 and now the National Testing Agency (NTA) since 2019, conduct the NEET, JEE and JEE Advanced examinations in February, March and second in April or May in this pandemic period.
The students in cities in the plain regions get and avail two chance to compete in NEET and JEE examinations every year. But in contrast, the students in snowbound areas can avail only one chance due to the snowfall in the snowbound region in February and March when the tests are held, observed the teachers in highland tribal belt.
Consequently. the students in high land tribal and remote areas are being denied the "Right to equal opportunity" in all such cases, complained a senior teacher in Lahaul Spiti. "It is unconstitutional and tribal leaders and MPs of the Himalayan region should raise their voice against this in parliament so that children in the mountains get justice and have separate system of examinations in warmer months", the teachers demand.
What is more shocking is that the “city-centric model of education” has even forced the state education Boards of the mountain states to hold their respective Board examinations simultaneously with CBSE examinations in the winter months.
The winter closing schools get the winter break from January to February. State boards argue that the students will pass out with the CBSE-affiliated schools in the same months and thereby they can take up admission subsequently in the undergraduate classes in higher institutions in the country.
No doubt, the district administration provides the fuel wood to the schools under the tribal subplan for the heating arrangements during the winter months. But the problem is that the students find it difficult to attempt question papers in cold freezing weather mainly when it snows, said the invigilators.
Each school gets a daily quota of 15 kg of fuel wood per tandoor. This quota is sufficient but it leads to high degree of exposure and indoor pollution and tandoor heat is bad for bone, claimed the teachers.
The day temperatures in Keylong hit a low of -1.7 degree centigrade and Maximum was 4.3 degree and in Kalpa in Kinnaur it was 5 degree maximum and Shimla it was 10.9 degree maximum today Keylong recorded one inch of snow while Sissu in Chandra valley had nine inches of snow on Friday.
DC Lahaul Spiti Neeraj Kumar said the road from North Portal to Keylong till Darcha was opened for four wheeled drive vehicles, while the bus service remained suspended due to the snow.
In Leh, there are 12 CBSE affiliated schools at Choglamsar with its branches in Skurbuchan, Khaltsi, Saspol, Karu villages and three in Kargil district. The temperature dip to -15 degree C to -25 degree C in winter. "We find it difficult to attempt the question papers", complained the students.
Central government has opened the Kendriya Vidyalya, Jawahar Navodya vidyalay, Eklavya Vidyalya and Sainik schools in Himalayan region with an objective of giving quality education to the students in the hard region. “The motive is great, but the timing of CBSE and state Board examinations are not as per requirements of students living here", the parents said.
As a result, the prosperous families are migrating to the cities to impart good education to their children. There are few schools that teach science subjects as there are no science teachers and labs available, said the students. This migration sometimes cost them dearly as children become victims of “elitist abuse” and even get culture shock, explained a psychologist.
To give mountain children their due place, the teachers demand that CBSE and the state boards must revisit their rule books and make a rethink on all that is happening in the name of quality education in higher region. “The board examinations should be conducted in April to May to give a level playing field to the children educating in the mountain region", said Suresh Vidyarthi, a teacher in the tribal area.
The natives demand that the state and central governments should make amendments in the New Education Policy-2022 to shun this “metro city-centric model of education” to give justice to the people living in the snowbound areas so that their children compete and get their due in the mainstream”.
(Kuldeep Chauhan is Editor and administrator, Himbumail, voice of Himalayan people)
