Students In A Lurch As Tripura Goes Into Lockdown In The Middle Of Semester Exams
With inputs for Adivasi Awaaz team
The Higher Education Department of Tripura Government has postponed all semester examinations of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in all affiliated colleges and private universities, with effect from April 26th, 2021 until further notice. The state had to take this step in view of the sudden rise in Covid-19 cases. For students, however, the lockdown has created a lot of chaos as they are in the middle of their semester exams.
Riya Debbarma is a student of M.A Kokborok at Tripura University. She says that she had already appeared for some of the semester exams and was preparing for the rest when she heard about the lockdown. “We don’t know when the next exam will take place so we are in a lot of confusion,” she said. There are fears that the semester will be postponed and so the course will get delayed. Much like her, Bubar Debbarma has already appeared for three out of seven exams for her BA LLB course. She is in her third semester at the Tripura Government Law College in Agartala. “We are expecting that we will lose a year if exams are postponed. We are waiting for new notifications as to when the exams will be held,” she said.
Meanwhile, with hostels shutting down, students have to leave for their homes which is especially difficult at such a short notice. The students will have to carry all their books with them in case exams are shifted online. Kulungti Jamatia who is doing M. Pharma from Tripura University says that ever since the first wave of the pandemic, life has been tough for students. “First of all, the admissions were delayed. I had to wait for many months to get my admission done. After that, due to the paucity of time, we were asked to complete a huge syllabus in a very short period of time. The pressure has been intense,” she said. As M. Pharma students need a laboratory for their practicals, it needs to be seen how it will be conducted during the lockdown.
Some students are wary of online classes as their experience last year was not good. One student who wanted to stay anonymous said that the online classes were “a joke” as the colleges were just not interested in teaching properly.
The government of Tripura decided to also postpone all examinations from Class 3 to 9 and Class 11 until further notice. The dates of the examinations will be announced later by the government as soon as the situation comes under control and the green signal is given by the concerned authorities. The order was served on the April 26th, 2021 by the Joint Secretary to the Government of Tripura, Shri Saju Vaheed A. IAS.
Earlier this week, Tripura government on Wednesday also imposed night curfew under Section 144 of the CrPC, from 10 PM to 5 AM till April 30, 2021, and enforced several rules amid fresh surge of COVID-19 in the State. A memorandum was issued by the Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar, which cautioned that the epidemic Covid-19 in its second wave is spreading rapidly and the infection rate is higher than the earlier one. The memorandum also includes a penalty of Rs. 1000/- for Violation of Social Distancing norms in Transports, Business and Public places. The Govt. also restricted the gathering of masses. A maximum of 100 people will be allowed in social functions including marriages and 20 people at funerals.
The administration also directed the wearing of facial masks, using of sanitizers and maintaining social distance at all times. And should there be anyone found violating the norms, they shall be liable to pay the fine for any such violation as per provisions of Sections 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 apart from legal action under section 188 of IPC and other applicable legal provisions.
Exemptions from Night Curfew:
Hospitals, Pharmacies, Pathalogical/Radiological Laboratories shall remain exempted from the night curfew, movements of military/paramilitary force and state police personnel engaged in maintaining of law and order, movement of patients requiring medical treatment, movement of Government employees with valid Identity card to maintain essential services like Health Services, General Administration, power supply and drinking water supply, movement of municipal vehicles and staffs on duty during the night shall also be exempted from the night curfew. In view of the emergent nature of the situation and to ensure public health and safety this order is passed ex-parte and is addressed to the public in general.
This article has been created as a part of the Adivasi Awaaz project, with the support of Misereor and Prayog Samaj Sevi Sanstha.