Pokhriyal's webinar with teacher begins. Designed by Gargi Singh/ gettyimages.in Ramesh Pokhriyal’s interaction with teachers HIGHLIGHTS: The class 10 and 12 board exams will be held offline and will be held after February. The exact dates of these exams will be announced later after assessing the situation, said Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal during a live interaction with teachers.
The minister also responded to questions of stakeholders. One of the stakeholders asked, “when the classes are being held online, why can’t exams are held online?” Answering him, the minister said, that there still is a small percentage of students who have not got equal access to education. While we have used unique methods to teach students but having such methods for exams might not be fair. We need a laptop and stable internet and electricity for each student which is a challenge.
Read | CBSE class 12 exams to have more application-based questions
He said that the board exams will have 33 per cent internal choice as well and 30 per cent of the syllabus has been reduced and other state boards are also expected to follow the same. He also said that there could be an alternative to practical exams owing to the pandemic.
Regarding the schedule and syllabus of entrance examinations, the Minister said that the syllabus of JEE Main 2021 examination will remain the same as it was last year. However, in order to overcome the impact of the reduction of syllabus undertaken by some Boards, the question papers for JEE Main 2021 will have 90 questions (30 questions each in physics, chemistry, and mathematics), out of which the candidate will have to answer 75 questions (25 questions each in physics, chemistry, and mathematics), informed the Education Minister.
CBSE is making necessary preparations for conducting the 2021 examinations. As far as the final dates for the examinations are concerned, Board exams will not be held in the month of February and CBSE will very soon announce the dates after discussion with the stakeholders, said Pokhriyal.
-- No board exams till February
-- Final exams for class 10, 12 to be held in offline mode
-- Syllabus cuts not to be restricted till CBSE and CISCE, state boards expected to follow suit
-- JEE Main to have more internal choices
-- CBSE exams to have the internal choice, as per rules
The CBSE board exams will be held on a reduced syllabus. 30% of the total syllabus has been cut and some states have also announced a similar move while others are expected to do the same. There will also be 33% internal choices in the exam, said Pokhiryal.
When the classes are being held online, why can't exams be held online?, one of the stakeholders asked the minister. Answering the query, the minister said, that there still is a small percentage of students who have not got equal access to education. While we have used unique methods to teach students but having such methods for exams might not be fair. We need a laptop and stable internet and electricity for each student which is a challenge.
Cancelling exams and promoting students without exam will result in putting a stamp on these students. These students might face trouble in getting jobs and admissions at higher education level in future. We do not want that for our students. Thus, cancellation will not happen. Thus, board exams will be held but postponed. The class 10 and 12 board exams will not be held in Jan-Feb. But when exactly will the exams will be held will be decided after Feb, said Pokhroyal.
We have introduced more internal options in JEE Main. Of the 90 questions, students will have to answer only 75 questions. Students whose boards have reduced syllabus by 30 per cent will have lesser choices but they will not be at any loss. Thus students can prepare as per their own boards, said Pokhroyal.
Due to lack of access to the internet, teachers in some remote areas are teaching through loudspeakers. We are aware of your challenges and the determination you have to overcome these challenges and your concern for these children is valid. Though we have come up with different modes like TV, DTH services, community radio etc. We have covered a lot and are working in this regard. I believe we will soon get a solution to these infrastructural issues, said Pokhriyal
Responding to a query raised by a teacher, Pokhriyal said, 'we are making our student degree holders and running after packages and not patent. We need to impart life values to our students as well. This is the responsibility of all of us. Without the conscious, life values, a human is like a machine. The NEP focuses on this as well.' He added, 'our students need to be not just good humans, good citizens, but also global citizens.'
Training of teachers in online education is critical. We have launched several platforms including 'Nishtha'. CBSE has trained 4.80 lakh teachers in online education teaching, informed Pokhriyal during his live interaction with teachers. Due to the pandemic, education had moved to online platforms. Schools are yet to resume to their full capacities.
Vocational training with an internship to be introduced from class 6 onwards. We aim to implement vocational education for students in class 6 onwards in middle schools, said Pokhriyal. This has been introduced under the NEP 2020. The Minister of Education said that not just tie-up with the industry but also knowledge of ancient India will be part of the education. "We are the first country in the world which is introducing AI at the school level," he claims.
A teacher is a key between the drafting of the national education policy (NEP) and its implementation on the ground, said the Minister of Education. He said that implementation of a policy is tough but must task.
Many countries have canceled one entire academic year but our teachers continued to work hard and did not allow any candidate to waste their academic year. Teachers are no less than corona warriors for training 33 crore students across countries during this tough time.
The Minister of Education, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had asked stakeholders to send their queries as well as suggestions by tweeting to him with hashtag #EducationMinisterGoesLive, during his earlier interactions, too the minister had answered multiple queries raised by stakeholders including students and parents. The same is expected today.
Several tweets have been filed under the hashtag #EducationMinisterGoes Live wherein students have asked the minister to postpone the board exams.
The Education Minister through video messages had invited suggestions from teachers, academicians, and other stakeholders on how to conduct the board exams during the pandemic. He said that he would discuss their suggestions during the live discussion to begin soon today.
While inviting teachers to listen to the address and raise queries if any regarding the upcoming board exams, the Minister of Education said that teachers have converted the obstacles into opportunities. He said that teachers with their unique methods have reached remote areas during the pandemic and ensured that education does not stop.