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New Delhi : A national consultation was arranged on May 23, 2021, by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, with the Education Ministers and Administrators of all States and UTs.
The consultation was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and was attended by Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Union Minister for Women and Child Development and Textiles, SmritiZubin Irani, Union Minister for Forest, Environment and Climate change and Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar, and Minister of State for Education Sanjay Dhotre. Secretary, Higher Education, Amit Khare, Secretary, School Education,Anita Karwal.
Opening the forum for discussions, Pokhriyal expressed his gratitude to the cabinet ministers from Government of India who attended the meeting for their extensive support in the preliminary discussions leading to this consultation. It may be mentioned that a high level meeting was held on May 21, 2021, under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister with nine Union Cabinet Ministers and senior officials to discuss about the conduct of Board exams for Class XII and All India Entrance exams.
Pokhriyal discussed the importance of Class XII Board exams and All India Entrance exams in shaping the future and defining the careers of students. He said keeping in view the present circumstances we decided to cancel the CBSE Board examinations of Class X and evaluate through internal assessment but Class-XII examinations are very important to decide the future of a student.
He said that this meeting was called to enable Central and State Boards and other examination agencies to be able to examine various options available in the present challenging circumstances through a consultation process. Pokhriyal assured that the deliberations with all stakeholders at the meeting will help in reaching a suitable decision on exams in the interest of all the students.
The discussions were held around two themes, i.e, board exams to be conducted for Class XII by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and other State Boards and the All-India Entrance examinations for various higher education institutions and professional courses. Various options regarding the methodology, process, duration and timings of the exams were discussed. While a broad consensus was there, however, it was decided that States and UTs may like to further examine the matter and send their feedback in writing by May 25,2021.
The meeting was attended by Chief Minister of Jharkhand and Goa, Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi and State Education Ministers, State Education Secretaries, Chairpersons of Examination Boards , Administrators of Union territories, Secretaries of Higher Education Department and School Education Department of Government of India, Chairman CBSE, UGC and AICTE, DG NTA and several other officials, according to a PIB release.
While summing up, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh thanked all the participants for putting forth their positive suggestions on the proposals for conducting examinations. He requested States and UTs to submit other suggestions, if any, to the Ministry of Education by May 25. The Ministry will consider all those suggestions and take a final decision soon, he added. He reiterated that the priority of the Government is to conduct all the examinations in a safe and secure environment.
Earlier on April 14, 2021, the Central Board of Secondary Education had notified that Class XII exams have been postponed and that further information with regard to Class XII board exams would be given to students by June 1. In this context, following the consultative meeting with the States and UTs on May 23, 2021, the Government of India will examine the suggestions received from the various State Governments this week and convey further information in this regard to the students by or before June 1, 2021.