Stage three coronavirus restrictions in rural and regional Victoria that have forced students onto remote and flexible learning are causing angst for families and students.
Parents of VCE students, in particular, are calling for students to be allowed back to the classroom for face-to-face lessons.
While the government's recent announcement that students would be individually assessed for any adverse impacts of coronavirus, was welcomed, it did not persuade some parents and students.
Under level three restrictions all year 11 and 12 have moved to remote and flexible learning.
Ballarat region parent, David Cornish, said the move was another impediment for students in rural areas that were already disadvantaged.
He said country kids had worse internet connections than their metropolitan cohort, "so at best it is increasing the disadvantage to country kids with no tangible Covid benefits".
Peter Mullan who farms at Lalbert in the Mallee, with wife Joanne, have three children being schooled remotely - Kate in VCE, Samantha year 10 and Rebecca year 8.
"We haven't had a case in the Buloke Shire where we live and there's only been five in total in the Swan Hill shire where they go to school - I don't think there's a lot of risk," he said.
He said Swan Hill struggled to attract teachers and didn't have the access to tutors, etc.
"Our internet reliability is not good and it's expensive," he said.
Kate Mullan said going back online to complete her studies was frustrating.
She said with some of her subjects difficult to complete online, including chemistry and maths methods "it's a struggle". Drama was supposed to be mostly practical, "which you can't do".
"Please let us go back to school. In a normal year it's not a level playing field - Swan Hill does not have a physics teacher between them," she said.
"When I get to university I want to be able to experience life on campus."
Ms Mullan said people believed the remote learning where the individual had to put themselves on their own deadlines was reasonable preparation for university.
"We need people more than we thought we did," she said.
The government announced individual assessments would be reflected in ATAR rankings as part of a wide-ranging process to ensure fair and accurate results in an "unprecedented year of school - taking a huge mental load off students and their families as we head towards exams".
The new restrictions were designed to significantly reduce the movement of close to a million students - and their parents and carers - across the state to help slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID- 19), a government spokesperson said.
The available data suggested that transmission in school settings was rare, and the risk to staff and students in both mainstream and specialist settings remained low, with health and safety measures in place.
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) will introduce a wide-ranging "Consideration of Educational Disadvantage" process to calculate VCE scores, taking into account disruptions to learning caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
This new process will mean the only thing impacted students need to focus on is their exams - and doing their best, the spokesman said
In a normal year, individual students were assessed for special consideration on a case-by-case basis.
This year, schools would provide the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) with information on every single one of their students.
The VCAA will consider a range of data alongside exam results, including a student's expected achievement levels before the impact of coronavirus, school assessments completed prior to remote and flexible learning, the General Achievement Test (GAT) and a range of statistical analyses to calculate final results.
"The bottom line is that every student has been impacted in some way by this pandemic - the challenge is to make sure that it doesn't decide their future," Premier Daniel Andrews said
"My message to VCE students is clear: you concentrate on doing your best, and we'll take care of everything else."
Minister for Education James Merlino, said he knew the real stress and anxiety that many students and their parents were feeling, but the announcement would mean one less thing to worry about.
"With this additional support, we'll make sure every student at every age has the support to be their best."
