Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Thursday interacted with students in a live session to answer their questions regarding board exams 2021 and competitive exams like JEE, NEET 2021. Students had asked him to announce dates for the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Main, National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) board exams. Though Pokhriyal did not announce any date, he did certainly provide important information regarding the ministry's plans.
The education minister talked about the reduced syllabus of CBSE boards and answered students' queries regarding the conduct of JEE Mains and NEET 2021. He also talked about the New Education Policy 2020.
"New Education Policy 2020 was released during the Pandemic and it has been highly appreciated all over the country. I have faith the new education policy will bring a lot of opportunities for you all. Cambridge University also appreciated the NEP and congratulated PM Modi for this policy," Pokhriyal said.
Here are the highlights of Pokhriyal's address regarding NEET and JEE Exams 2021:
1. Pokhriyal assured board and entrance exam students that the dates for CBSE board exams 2021 will be announced much before the commencement of exams so that the students get ample time to prepare.
2. Regarding the postponement of CBSE board exams 2021, he said if the situation remains the same, a decision will be taken then. On syllabus reduction, Pokhriyal said CBSE has already slashed the syllabus of Classes 10 and 12 by 30%.
3. The revised syllabus for CBSE Board exams 2021 has been uploaded on the official website of CBSE - cbse.nic.in.
4. The minister said that the level of questions that will be asked in JEE, NEET exams will be in line with the CBSE board reduced syllabus.
5. Answering a question regarding an alternative mode of exam, Pokhriyal said, "We have conducted NEET in offline mode till now...but we will take it into consideration if students want online NEET exam."
6. The education minister said that his ministry is considering if the Engineering entrance exam -- JEE Main -- can be held in multiple sessions every year. Currently, it is conducted twice-a-year.
7. Pokhriyal dismissed the possibility of the competitive exams getting cancelled, saying that they were conducted this year despite the difficulties arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic.
8. Regarding the conduct of CBSE practical exams, the Education Minister said if students cannot visit schools for practical work, it will not be possible to conduct those exams. "We will discuss in this regard," he said.
Ending the webinar, Educatoin Minister congratulated all teachers, parents and students on how they have accepted the challenge and would continue to do so.
