Kolkata school makes COVID-19 negative certificate mandatory for students appearing for ICSE, ISC exams

Get COVID-19 negative certificate for ICSE, ISC exams, a reputed school in West Bengal’s Kolkata put up a notice on its website

Kolkata: A reputed private school of Kolkata on Wednesday asked the parents of those students, who would appear for the remaining ICSE and ISC examinations in July, to get coronavirus negative certificates for their wards.

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has allowed students to appear for the pending board exams from the city they are in at present and has also given an option to candidates to take up the exams later during compartmental tests, according to officials.

The exams, which were postponed in view of a nationwide lockdown, have been scheduled to be held between July 1 and 14.

"Should your ward be interested for the examination, parents are requested to go for a COVID TEST for your ward and get a negative result, which will help all the students appearing the Examination and minimising the risk of all the other people who are involved in conducting the ICSE (or ISC) Examination 2020 for the revised dates," a notice posted on the website of the private school on Wednesday read.

This step is necessary for the health of the candidates and others to be present during examinations, as the institute is in a containment zone, Principal of St Augustine's Day School, R S Gasper, told PTI.

Chief Executive Officer and Secretary of CISCE Gerry Arathoon did not take phone calls, according to PTI.

The notice, signed by the principal, asked the parents to submit the COVID-19 test result of students at the school by June 25.

The notice also said that in case a candidate does not like to write the examinations, the Pre-Board marks will be accepted for the remaining examination and the candidate's results will be based on it.

The consent regarding appearing for examinations or not is to be submitted to the school by June 19.

A source at the Association of Heads of ICSE Schools in West Bengal said that to his knowledge, no other school in the state has put up such a condition for ISC or ICSE examination candidates willing to write the remaining papers.

The principal of a south Kolkata school, affiliated to the ICSE board, described the decision as "absolutely ridiculous and unfair to the children. Can a school do this to its students? Instead, they could have used thermal guns to check the body temperature of candidates at the gate and keep a medical helpdesk nearby."

The head of another school wondered how the test result can be submitted on July 25 and be valid on July 1, as such tests need to be taken 48 hours earlier.