The discussion was formally part of the cabinet agenda at its 20 February meeting. It was informed that over 7.9 crore viewers had tuned in to the programme.
New Delhi: While Union Cabinet meetings are known to clear a slew of high priority national projects, it sometimes also assesses the impact of high-value government initiatives.
This week’s cabinet meeting had on its agenda an assessment of ‘Pariksha pe Charcha’ – PM Narendra Modi’s town hall with school children on handling exam stress.
The cabinet, in its 20 February meeting, analysed the ‘result’ of the event, noting the ‘positive impact’ it had on children and its high viewership across the country, including in states like West Bengal which had announced a boycott.
The cabinet was informed that over 7.9 crore viewers tuned in to the 16 February programme, where PM Modi gave tips to students on handling examination-related stress.
The discussion was formally part of the cabinet agenda, ThePrint has learnt.
It has also been assessed by the government that the viewership of the two-hour long townhall was encouraging in states like West Bengal and Tripura, despite the state governments declining to entertain the Centre’s proposal to make arrangements for live broadcast of the events.
Ministers to analyse in detail
The Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry has already prepared a comprehensive document on ‘Pariksha par Charcha’, its reach and impact, which was also shared briefly at the cabinet meeting.
Other ministers are also expected to assess the reaction and response to the PM’s interactive session in their respective constituencies and other influence areas, sources indicated. State governments are learnt to have been asked to send in photographs to show schools’ participation in the event.
What went down at the event
The government had received over 35,000 questions for the Prime Minister, some of which he answered at the interaction with students at New Delhi’s Talkatora Stadium. The event was broadcast live and arrangements were made across schools as well as higher education institutes to watch the PM answer questions on examination-related stress.
The Prime Minister took questions on nervousness, anxiety, concentration, peer pressure, parents’ expectations, and the role of the teacher.
His answers were generously laced with examples of achievers like Sachin Tendulkar, former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris. He also stressed on the need to focus on “anuspardha” (competing with oneself), rather than “pratispardha” (competing with others).
He also quoted Swami Vivekananda to invoke the importance of self-confidence to deal with examination stress and anxiety.