In the season of exams and viral infections schools are telling parents not to send children to school.
Most parents are “still hyper” about exams or tests and send their children to school even if they are unwell leading to both physical and mental stress for the child, several schools that Metro spoke to said.
In one school, a student’s fever shot up while writing an exam last week and had to be sent home. In another school, a senior student fell unwell just after finishing an
exam.
Several schools have asked teachers to be mindful of visible symptoms among students.
This time of the year, most schools in the city have their half-yearly exams. Some have just finished and in many, they are under way.
Viruses are also at play. Many children have been complaining of fever, cough and cold.
“In many cases, we are unable to find out if a child is unwell because parents send them for an exam by making them take a medicine. But we tell parents that it is inhuman to send children to school for an exam when they are unwell,” said Koeli Dey, principal, Sushila Birla Girls’ School.
Teachers said parents “see an exam as so sacrosanct” that they think a child cannot just miss it even if he or she is not well. “By insisting that a child has to appear for an exam adults are creating panic in them,” said Terence John, principal, Julien Day School Kalyani.
Nupur Ghosh, vice-principal of Mahadevi Birla World Academy said that most parents were “still hyper” about a child’s test.
The fascination for exams stems from the fascination for marks. Sister Rani, principal, Our Lady Queen of the Missions School Park Circus, said: “Even then if it’s a 10-mark test parents will send their children to school.”
Some schools, Like Calcutta Girls’ do not take a retest but consider the performance of the child in a previous or later exam. “We also take the teachers’ feedback to prepare the report card,” said principal Basanti Biswas.