Mumbai, TCS iON, a strategic unit of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has announced a new standard operating procedure called Social Distanced Assessments (SD-Assessment) to help it conduct secure, proctored in-center assessments for recruitment and academic admissions in the post lockdown phase, without compromising on the safety of the candidates and proctoring staff amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic has caused significant disruptions to the examination schedules. A large number of students seeking admission for higher education and youth seeking jobs are waiting for the exam process to be restarted. Additionally, in-center exams are critical as many students do not have access to reliable computer devices or adequate bandwidth to take online exams.

With the easing of lockdown rules and slow resumption of people movement, TCS has taken the lead to define a rigorous set of rules for conducting in-person exams. The SD-Assessments norms lay out the rules to be followed before, during and after an exam, to ensure that the necessary precautions, hygiene and social distancing requirements are adhered to. This will ensure the smooth and safe conduct of in-center exams at TCS iON's centers.

Some of the key norms laid out are staggered, touch-free entry into the test venue; checks for symptoms along with Aarogya Setu App status verification; sanitisation before entry into the exam hall; touch-free security checks, document verification, and registration; non-intrusive, touch-free identity verification before, during and after the exam; multiple layers of hygiene norms for candidates and exam staff.

Venguswamy Ramaswamy, Global Head, TCS iON, said, "Exam-conducting authorities are eager to resume assessments and at the same time, are anxious about the safety of students and everyone involved. We are grateful to the health experts from AIIMS and PHFI for providing invaluable inputs to our process for conducting social distanced assessments with all the necessary rigour and care."

The SD-Assessments norms have been designed along with inputs from health experts from the exam section of All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) and Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI).