The meeting of Union ministers has started. The high-level meeting attended by four Union Ministers, state education ministers, and secretaries of education ministries is expected to finalise and take a call on the pending issue of Class 12 board exams, and entrance exams for professional courses amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The meeting has been chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in the presence of Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Zubin Irani and Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar.
While announcing the virtual meeting on Saturday, May 22, Mr Pokhriyal also sought inputs from all the stakeholders – students, parents, teachers and others through Twitter. And now, a section of students is campaigning for cancellation of exams on social media tagging their posts with #cancelboardexams and #cancelallboardexams.
Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education and CBSE are exploring options regarding the conduct of examinations, keeping in mind the safety and security of the students and the teachers. One option was to have the Class 12 students write exams in only a select few major subjects and mark them on the rest on the basis of how they do in these subjects.
The second option was to hold exams in schools but change the exam pattern to one that has only objective questions and lasts just one-and-a-half hours instead of three, said Delhi’s Education Minister Manish Sisodia. Delhi Government is opposed to both. For holding entrance exams, JEE Main 2021 and NEET 2021 and others, the only solution is vaccinating all, said Mr Sisodia. The country’s 1.5 crore students and 1.5 crore teachers should all be vaccinated first.
“In today’s meet with CBSE, we discussed that providing safe environment for students is our priority. We will tell the SC that last year was unfortunate for students. 2nd #COVID19 wave is going on and an anticipated 3rd wave is yet to come,” Maharashtra Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad said after attending the same meeting.
CBSE declared after meeting that Class 12th board exams will take place. However, the CBSE Class 12 board exams will likely be held in a short format type and state boards may take a call on their own whether to conduct the board exams or not. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is yet to finalise the Class 12 board exam dates and the modes of exam.
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