Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal to discuss implementation of NEP, online education amid COVID-19 surge

In the virtual meeting, the minister will also review the online education and implementation of the New Education Policy (NEP 2020) apart from the COVID-19 impact on education.

Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ is all set to conduct a high-level meeting with state education secretaries today, i.e. May 17, 2021, at 11 am to review the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education sector. The meeting will be conducted in a virtual mode in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the official statement released by the Ministry of Education, in the virtual meeting, the minister will also review the online education and implementation of the New Education Policy (NEP 2020) apart from the COVID-19 impact on education. The minister is going to conduct his first virtual meeting with the state education secretaries after COVID -19 second wave.

It is also expected that along with the possibilities of conducting the postponed higher secondary exams with the experts, the Education Minister is also expected to review the preparation made by the education departments of the states to cope up with the ongoing COVID-19 situation and how the students can continue their online education despite the challenges faced by them during the pandemic.

Earlier,  the Ministry of Education on May 3 directed all the centrally-funded institutions including Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) to postpone offline exams scheduled for the month of May. However, the MoE also directed that these institutions can continue with online exams. In a letter addressed to heads of all centrally-funded institutions, Higher Education secretary Amit Khare said the decision on examinations will be reviewed again in the first week of June 2021.

Latest reports suggest that the Education Minister is also mulling to conduct a meeting with all the Vice-Chancellors of central universities tomorrow to review the online education amid the COVID-19 pandemic and implementation of New Education Policy (NEP 2020).

CBSE Board Exam 2021

Meanwhile, the education ministry has cancelled the CBSE Class 10 board exam and postponed the Class 12 board exam 2021 in wake of the ongoing pandemic situation and increasing COVID-19 cases. The exams were scheduled to be held from 4 May.

Amid growing demands for cancellation of Class 12 board exams, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Friday said that it has not taken any decision yet on Class 12 board exams.

Releasing a clarification, CBSE said, "It is clarified that no such decision (cancellation of exams) has been taken regarding class 12 board examination, as being speculated. Any decision taken in this matter will be officially communicated to the public," a CBSE official said.

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