Aditi Koirala

The year 2020 has itched in our mind as a troublesome period. During the year, the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic affected all walks of life. Except for some emergency services, all works, facilities, and services were scrapped or postponed.
The whole country went under strict lockdown and everyone had to maintain proper safety protocols. The education sector was equally hampered. Schools and colleges were closed. Authority postponed all academic programmes including the board exams.

Exam Preparation
I had to prepare for my grade 12th board exams during the lockdown time. My exams were supposed to have started on 8 Baisakh 2077 but the authority postponed the examinations till another notice as the coronavirus threat loomed. Everyone thought the exam postponement was the best decision because everyone was under the threat of COVID-19 then.
The whole world went under lockdown. The COVID situation in some countries like Italy, France, the US, and a few others was worse. Thousands of people were dying every day there. The only way to control this mess was to impose lockdown. Only 1 or 2 persons were infected in our country when the lockdown was declared because the government couldn't risk the lives of all children.
Also, other countries had postponed their academic activities. These countries having well developed technological resources managed to continue their academic activities via online classes and examinations. But the poor and developing countries like ours couldn't rely on technology. So, for a month or two, we were just at our houses waiting for news regarding the continuation of our study and the possibility of appearing in examinations.
I used to wake up with a piece of news that our exams had been delayed further. However, I had to prepare with equal dedication despite the uncertainty of my examinations. It could take place any time, or could have been postponed for months. In Nepal, we know how stressful exam pressures could become to students. We had to live every day with such pressures. The lockdown was indeed a stressful period for students.
A lot was going around us concerning the pandemic- economic downturn, job loss, people dying of the dreaded virus and so on. But uncertainty created by the exam postponement had also torn us apart psychologically.
It was a heartbreaking situation for my fellow students as many of them couldn’t bear the living expenses in the city areas and had to go back to their respective houses, where many of them had not any access to internet facilities which barred them from taking online classes. They even had to worry about their upcoming examination, which was quite uncertain then.
Finally, after eight months of waiting and preparing, the government ended the uncertainty by publishing our exam routine in the month of Ashwin. They took this step because the 12th-grade examination certificate would mean a lot for us. After all, it would be recognised as the school-leaving certificate examination. The whole Dashain and Tihar period was spent in preparing for the examination.
Also, the certificate would be equally important for furthering our higher studies within our country or abroad. This certificate is necessary for us to make decisions regarding our future career and it would help us choose a correct career path. The authority made the passing chances easier as it reduced the pass marks and balanced them by adding analytical, practical and previous exam records.
The virus infection was increasing every day, posing as a challenge. Many students were about to risk their lives; but, at the same time, they were also assured as the government was fully prepared for ensuring safety during examinations. The examinations were taken physically and not virtually, as our country is not equally equipped with technology.
When the day of the exam arrived, I felt nervous as I hadn't gone out of my house since the lockdown. My mom reminded me of carrying sanitiser and putting on the face shield. I carried two bottles of sanitiser, a face-mask, and a face-shield before heading to the college.
When I was heading to college, I saw students like me, some with masks and shields and some without them. After I reached the college, I was nervous as I was stepping at the place after a gap of eight months.
I saw my friends and had a bit of chitchat about the exam and, of course, the coronavirus! After the first day's exam, I had just reached home and started getting the viral Tiktok posts, which blew my mind off. The videos exposed incidents that undermined exam ethics. I was deeply saddened to see students misusing leniency which the authority had granted owing to the pandemic.

Leaked Paper
The next day's exam question papers were leaked making the situation more chaotic. Next day after the exam was completed and confirmed that the question was leaked, the news regarding the exam of the leaked paper would be held again was all over the internet, which disturbed us extremely.
Because we had been risking our lives every day and we needed to sit for re-examination. Many students disliked the decision that later turned out to be a rumour only. On the final exam day, we were extremely happy that the examination held during this difficult time was finally coming to its end.
Appearing in the examinations hundreds of students was not an easy job during the pandemic period. But suspending them for a long time would have caused more problems for students who could not decide their future field of study. Many countries had started higher study programmes after completing school level examinations. The students who were planning to fly abroad to further studies were stuck in here. I am grateful that our government finally took the step to hold exams by minimising all possible risks.

(Koirala is a college student)