Actor Sonu Sood has thrown his weight behind students as he launched an appeal to cancel this year’s board exams. His appeal to cancel the board exams came after Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi too wrote to the country’s education minister asking him to cancel the board exams this year.
Sharing a video his appeal, Sonu wrote, “I request everyone to support students who are forced to appear for offline board exams in these tough times. With the number of cases rising to 145k a day I feel there should be an internal assessment method to promote them rather than risking so many lives. #cancelboardexam2021.”
Sonu said that many countries around the world had cancelled key exams even when just a few hundred cases of coronavirus were reported there. “Saudi cancelled the exams when there were only 600 cases in that country. Exams were also cancelled in Mexico even when they had just 1300 cases. Kuwait had just 1500 cases and they cancelled the exams. In India, we have 1.45 lakh cases and we are still considering holding this year’s exams,” Sonu said.
I request everyone to support students who are forced to appear for offline board exams in these tough times. With the number of cases rising to 145k a day I feel there should be an internal assessment method to promote them rather than risking so many lives. #cancelboardexam2021 pic.twitter.com/Taq38B0811
— sonu sood (@SonuSood) April 11, 2021
The actor urged people to support students in their demand to not hold this year’s board exams in view of the dangerous surge in coronavirus cases.
Earlier, Priyanka Gandhi had written to Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank asking to cancel the Class 10 and Class 12 exams. She had written, “It is indeed shocking that despite the massive and uncontrolled rise in COVID-19 cases across the country and over 1 lakh new cases coming to light on a daily basis, the CBSE board has issued a circular stating that it is going ahead with the Board exams scheduled in May. Students prepare for these exams for months on end as they determine the future course of their lives. Yet lakhs of children and parents from all over India have been expressing their fears and apprehensions about assembling at exam centers to sit for the exams in the middle of the second wave of COVID-19. ”
Congress MP and Priyanka’s brother, Rahul Gandhi, too tweeted repeating the same demand. Gandhi tweeted, “In the light of the devastating Corona second wave, conducting #CBSE exams must be reconsidered. All stakeholders must be consulted before making sweeping decisions. On how many counts does GOI intend to play with the future of India’s youth?”
India has seen a dangerous surge in the coronavirus pandemic with more than 1.5 lakh cases being reported in the last 24 hours. The rise in COVID-19 cases has coincided with an alarming shortage of vaccines.