Drop out students to have the upper hand in competitive examinations as freshers lost 2 months of preparation due to unavailable of preparation resources.
Students who dropped out to attempt various competitive examinations, including Special Class Railway Apprentice (SCRA), National Defence Academy Exam (NDA), Indian Army Technical Entry Scheme (TES), National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Entrance Test, National Institute of Design Admissions, Common-Law Admission Test (CLAT), and various others, might get an advantage.
This year, passing out batch of 2020 while seemed to have an advantage of lockdown to prepare for the competitive examination, a majority could not utilise the time due to lack of educational resources.
“I want to clear NDA and after my Class XII board examination, I had planned to prepare for it by taking up a crash course,” an aspirant Kartik Mishra said. He was hoping to brush up his knowledge and focus on the entrance examination.
“My last examination was on March 17 and before I could sign up for a course or buy reference books, lockdown was enforced,” Kartik said. He just spent his time hunting for online resources, but failed to have prepared for the exam.
“I want to enter fashion, so I was planning to attempt NIFT and like most students, I wanted to give it my first shot after 12th,” student Arya Gupta said. Being a student of Humanities stream, she has not only missed preparation time for entrance but also still anxiously waiting for her class XII board examinations.
“I still have to attend the pending examinations, and for NIFT in-person training was essential, one cannot study through online classes,” Arya said. She worries if this lockdown will make her skip a year of education and force her to take a drop.
Drop-out students on the other hand had all the required books and preparation material. “For me, lockdown has been a blessing in disguise, as I got that last-minute to polish my skills and knowledge before the upcoming examination,” Ashok Varlani, a drop-out student, said.
He explained that the TES examination is still scheduled in November as before, but lockdown helped him focus. “I could an focus on my studies without any diversions and temptations to go out, so yes, I see the positive impact in lockdown,” Varlani said.
A student attempting NDA examination Gurleen Kaur said, “I got more time to prepare for NDA as it is my dream to serve my country by becoming an army official.” She was preparing for the entrance while studying Bachelor of Commerce.
“If I have a better chance to get selected now, then I can’t be happier, but instead of competition, it is more about my commitment I believe,” Gurleen said.
