Students in riot-hit areas turn up for first board exam amid distress over violence

With parents keeping vigil outside examination centres in riot-hit northeast Delhi, Class 12 students appeared for their physics board exam despite being distressed over the communal violence that gave many of them sleepless nights and interrupted their studies and concentration.

According to the CBSE, around 98 per cent attendance was recorded in the first board exam held in violence-affected northeast Delhi on Monday.

Many parents stayed put outside the examination centres during the three hours when their wards appeared for the exam. At many centres invigilators counselled students before they started writing the exams, asking them to not "get stressed due to the past week's events" and focus on the paper.

Outside the examination centres, police and paramilitary personnel were deployed which inspired confidence in parents, teachers and students.

Police personnel also gave roses to students outside some centres to wish them good luck before their exam.

Like Priya, a Class XII student who is a resident of Maujpur, many students said their preparations were affected due to the violence.

"I had prepared for the exam but I didn't get sufficient time for revision due to the riot situation. I could not sleep or focus because there was so much fear in the locality," said the student after her physics exam.

Her mother Yogesh accompanied her daughter to the examination centre.

Parents said they had counselled their children to appear for the annual exams and not waste an academic year.

Ekta Yadav, a resident of violence-hit Yamuna Vihar area, said she was tensed while preparing for the exam do to the clashes and as her parents along with her neighbours were guarding the localities.

"The paper was neither difficult nor easy. We had heard reports about stone-pelting and firing in the nearby localities. Fortunately, my locality was safe. But I could hardly focus on preparation because there was always fear," Yadav said.

Had the riots not taken place, Yadav said she would have prepared peacefully.

Another student, Mohammad Aahil, said, "My father's factory in Karawal Nagar was vandalised during the riots on February 25 and when the situation worsened near our home in the same area, we left for a relative's place in Ghaziabad.

"I didn't have my books and somehow studied using the internet. The situation is still tense and we are scared of returning to the area. I do not even have my books for my chemistry exam."
Farooq Nawab of Victoria Public School said, "Out of 121 students who were to appear for Boards, 120 were present. The one student who did not appear had also not taken the practicals."