Exams are more important than lives. This is the message from Tribhuvan University, the country’s oldest and largest hub of academia, as students of master’s and bachelor’s level exams protest against in-person exams citing health concerns amid increasing Covid-19 risks driven by more contagious Delta variants of the coronavirus. The students, university officials must realise, are not wrong to demand a postponement or alternative assessments. There have been reports about exam centres not following health safety protocols. Students have posted videos of crowded exam centres on social media to draw the attention of the press and concerned authorities. But the outcry has largely been ignored by officials and the government, which continues to risk people’s lives.

On Tuesday, the Health Ministry reported close to 5,000 new infections across the country, with the Kathmandu Valley alone accounting for 1,015 infections. According to the handout data, 16 districts are home to more than 500 cases each, and 21 other districts host more than 200 active cases each. An age-wise breakdown of the new infections reveals that the 21-40 age group dominates the daily surge of infections in our country. Since the pandemic took hold last year, it has been the trend, killing over 10,000 people, and it is not hard to guess why. The age group is mobile and comprises social butterflies and the working-age population who are exposed to increased risks. It is only natural that they are also the carriers of the virus. If university officials and the government need a nudge, this is the same age group who are also taking their exams.

If breaking the chain of transmission and instilling Covid-appropriate behaviour to end the pandemic is the government’s single biggest mandate right now, like its predecessor, the Deuba administration continues to be complacent. The inability to process scientific guidelines and evolving knowledge on the pandemic reflects in foolhardy decisions like restricting public and private transportation after 8 pm while ignoring the perils of assembling thousands of students in classrooms, where lack of ventilation and physical distancing makes the efficacy of masks redundant. It is hence, illogical and criminal of university officials and the government to hurry exams while jeopardising precious gains made to date by vaccination campaigns.

There are 1,124 affiliate and 61 constituent colleges under Tribhuvan University, with over 415,000 final year students under 125 programmes at the bachelor’s and master’s levels. For lack of standard operating protocols, the exams are potentially super spreader events as Nepal stares at a third wave that the Health Ministry warns is inevitable, given the lax attitude of both the government and the public. It is unfortunate that the government continues to overlook the fragile Covid-19 situation of the country and stays mute while the apex university, in a dangerous move, hurries exams risking the lives of thousands of students and incalculable implications to society.

If we need a reminder, students still await their first dose of protection against the coronavirus, the dominant Delta variant of which has been compared to be as transmissible as chickenpox and potentially more severe. Both university officials and the government must realise that exams are not more important than lives.