Start evaluating CBSE answer sheets: HRD Minister tells states

NEW DELHI: During his meeting with state education ministers, human resource development minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ “appealed to all the states to start the process of evaluation of answer sheets of board exams”, says a statement issued by the ministry. He also asked states to “facilitate CBSE [or, the Central Board of Secondary Education] to evaluate answer sheets of the students in their respective States”.

Pokhriyal had called the meeting to discuss the measures for measures for continuing education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The state ministers were informed that the Centre’s grant for the mid-day meal scheme was being raised by nearly 11 percent, from Rs 7,300 crore to Rs 8,100 crore. The Centre also authorised distribution of school meals during the summer vacations and budgeted an additional Rs 1,600 crore for this. Is will also release an ad hoc grant of Rs 2,500 crore for the mid-day meal scheme in the first quarter.

Pokhriyal also announced that the Centre was relaxing the norms for its largest school education scheme, the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, and allowing states to spend the previous year’s balance, amounting to around Rs 6,200 crore.

Another ad-hoc grant of Rs 4,450 crore is being issued for the first quarter, the ministry’s statement said. The minister “also requested states to immediately transfer the amount released under Samagra Shiksha to the State Implementation Committee so that it can be utilized properly to ensure that the next instalment can be released”.

According to the ministry’s statement, most states were of the view that the priority should be to protect students from the coronavirus and they also demanded that education institutions should remain closed until the situation in the country improves.

Delhi’s request

Soon after the meeting got over, Delhi’s deputy chief minister, Manish Sisodia, said on social media that he has requested MHRD to pass even Class 10 and Class 12 students on the basis of their internal assessment marks.

Delhi Government schools are affiliated to the CBSE which is still planning to hold 29 of the remaining exams.“It will not be possible to conduct the remaining exams of CBSE 10th and 12th so that children should be passed on the basis of internal exams only as children of 9th and 11th have been passed,” Sisodia said on Twitter. He also recommended that the syllabus be reduced byat least 30 percent and the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE Main 2020) for engineering, and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET 2020) for admission to medical colleges be held on the basis of this reduced syllabus.

First meeting

This was the first meeting of the education ministers after the lockdown was enforced from March 25 to control the spread of the novel coronavirus. During the meeting, states shared their reports on measures adopted to distribute mid-day meals during the lockdown.

Pokhriyal said that their effort should be to ensure the 33 crore students do not face any difficulty and can continue their education. He reminded of the tools and technology available for distance education and that the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has developed an alternative calendar. The minister also said that they have have to prepare safety guidelines for when the school reopen.

Campus placements and internships, badly hit by the lockdown, were also discussed.

Also read:

• COVID-19: Academic plan after meeting with states, says HRD Minister
  
• HRD minister to discuss education, mid-day meals with states
  

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