New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government’s high-level meet Sunday to take a call on holding Class 12 exams ended inconclusively. States have been asked to make detailed suggestions by Tuesday. The final decision will be taken based on that.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh chaired the meet, which was attended by Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar and Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani.
In a series of tweets after the meeting, Nishank said he has requested the states to send their detailed suggestions by 25 May.
As envisioned by the Hon'ble PM, the meeting was extremely fruitful as we received immensely valuable suggestions. I have requested the State Governments to send me their detailed suggestions by 25th May. pic.twitter.com/JQbiAyH6zU
— Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) May 23, 2021
“I’m confident we will be able to arrive at an informed, collaborative decision regarding the Class 12th board exams and remove the uncertainty among students and parent’s minds by informing them of our final decision at the earliest,” he added.
While sources present in the meeting said exams will take place in all likelihood, no decision was announced to this regard.
A statement issued by the Ministry of Education also hinted that the government is in favour of the exams.
“The Minister said keeping in view the present circumstances we decided to cancel the CBSE Board examinations of Class 10 and evaluate through internal assessment but Class 12 examinations are very important to decide the future of a student,” the statement read.
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Options in front of states
Sources said the states were presented with two choices on holding the exams — both involving conducting exams only in important subjects.
Under the first option, exams will be conducted as usual, but only in 20 important subjects, as and when the situation gets better.
The second option provides for holding the exams based on objective-type questions and reducing the exam duration to one-and-a-half hours instead of three. It also calls for conducting exams in the school itself, instead of an exam centre.
The assessment of answer sheets will also be done at the school, if states go for the second option.
What the states suggested
State education ministers present in the meeting also gave their suggestions to the Modi government. While most states agreed to conduct exams at a later date when the situation is under control, some like Delhi and Maharashtra called against holding the exams, sources said.
Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia said the Delhi government isn’t in favour of holding exams for children in the current situation.
“This is not the time to conduct exams, students should be evaluated on the basis of historical references and promote them in Class 12. If a student says that he is not satisfied with the marks, he or she will get a chance to write the exam when the situation is better. This is what we have suggested to the central government,” Sisodia said while addressing a press conference soon after the meeting.
He also urged the government during the meet to vaccinate students and teachers before conducting exams.
“Different states expressed different opinions, there were some states who agreed to one of the plans, but some states did not agree to either and wanted no exams,” Sisodia added.
The Tamil Nadu government is also understood to have agreed to holding the exams when the situation is better.
Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh has announced that the state will allow students to write exams from their homes. The exams will be held from 1-5 June.
Chhattisgarh State Board Secretary V.K. Goyal said CGBSE 12th exam 2021 will be conducted but not at examination centres. Students will be able to take the question paper and answer sheet to their homes, write the exam and return the answer sheets at the centre within five days.
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