November 19, 2020.
TED NewsDesk, New Delhi: Discussing the conduct of exams during COVID-19, the Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ praised the successful commencement of final year college exams even after all the criticisms and protests across the country. The Minister in the online event held on Wednesday lauded the teachers and educational institutions for their swift transition from offline to digital mode of teaching amid the pandemic.
As per the Education Minister, the Center decided to conduct exams for final year students to prevent them from getting the tag of ‘passed during COVID-19′ for the rest of their lives.
“We took a strong stand and decided to conduct the exams. Some people opposed the decision, some went to the Supreme Court, but the SC also quashed their petitions and ruled that exams should be held,” the Minister claimed.
Supporting his argument, he also highlighted that several students wanted to appear for the NEET and JEE exams whereas, a few called for protest post the order of the union government to conduct the exams.
” The holding of JEE and NEET was so successful that the Election Commission when asked how would they hold Bihar elections during the pandemic…their reply was they would adopt the pattern used for the conduct of JEE and NEET,” Pokhriyal said.
Speaking about the New Education Policy, Mr Pokhriyal said that it aims at expanding the use of mother tongues of students to provide them with clear conceptions. Besides, it will enable students to stay and showcase their skills in the home country rather than moving abroad in search of jobs.
“We do not oppose English, but we insist on mother tongue….take the example of Japan, Germany, Israel, who prefer their own language to impart education, and none of these countries is lagging behind in any field,” he outlined.
He asserted that the policy is likely to make people self-reliant because of its quality to train them vocationally at initial stages.
“As part of the new policy, we have started an initiative called `study in India’, and with this, the race for going abroad for education will stop,” he added.
Previously, the country followed the education scheme of Lord Macaulay, which he imposed during Colonial rule. The Minister alleged that before the British reign, India’s literacy was 97%. The country excelled in the education sector with premier institutes like Nalanda.
The Maharashtra Education Society (regulator of many other educational institutions of Pune) conducted the digital event.
Source: Times Now News
