Exams were conducted successfully across the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Education Minister

We took a strong stand and decided to conduct the exams. Some people opposed the decision, some went to the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court also quashed their petitions and ruled that exams should be held, Mr. Pokhriyal said.

Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal `Nishank' has said that even with a lot of opposition, final year college exams were held successfully amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. While speaking at the event organised by the Maharashtra Education Society which runs several educational institutions in Pune, virtually, the Education Minister also praised educational institutes and teachers for switching to online platforms for teaching during the pandemic.

The Union Government took a firm stand that final year examinations must be held because if students had been passed without exam, they would have been stuck with the `passed during COVID-19' tag for all their lives, he said.
"We took a strong stand and decided to conduct the exams. Some people opposed the decision, some went to the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court also quashed their petitions and ruled that exams should be held," Mr Pokhriyal said.

Even when the decision was taken to conduct the JEE 2020 and NEET 2020 exams was taken, many people had protested but the majority of students who had burned the midnight oil to prepare wanted exams to be held, he said. "The holding of JEE and NEET was so successful that the Election Commission when asked how would they hold Bihar elections during the pandemic...their reply was they will adopt the pattern used for the conduct of JEE and NEET," the minister said.

The new education policy stresses that students should be taught in their mother tongues because experts believe that it improves comprehension, he said. "We do not oppose English but we insist on mother tongue....take the example of Japan, Germany, Israel, who prefer their own language to impart education and none of these countries are lagging behind in any field," he added.

The new education policy is also the foundation of 'atma-nirbharata' (self reliance) because it introduces vocational training at early stage, he said. It will also stop talent migration, the minister claimed.

"As part of the new policy, we have started an initiative called `study in India' and with this the race for going abroad for education will stop," Mr Pokhriyal said.

"Before Lord Macaulay (whose education policy was implemented in India during British rule), literacy rate in the country was "97 per cent", the minister claimed. India was a leader in education with universities such as Nalanda, he added.

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