No board exams will be conducted in Jan, Feb

New Delhi [India], December 22 (ANI): No board examinations will be conducted in January or February next year, said Union Education Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank as the COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the country.
While interacting with several teachers across the nation, the minister said, "No board examinations will be conducted in January or February. A decision on the conduct of examinations will be taken later."
The minister even tweeted, "I received a lot of requests from various students and teachers to postpone the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) board exams for Class 10 and 12. Keeping the COVID-19 pandemic in mind and after various consultations, we have decided that board exams will not be held in January, February."
"Exact dates will be announced soon. Our government is in favour of the students", the tweet added.
Pokhriyal also said that the importance of a Guru has always been more than God and that is why we should respect all the teachers keeping the spirit of 'Acharya Devo Bhavah.'
He said that due to the efforts made by the teachers, the online education system of the country is proved successful. The Minister expressed his gratitude to all the teachers for spreading awareness relating to COVID-19 among the students and society at large. He thanked teachers for participating with full sincerity in this war against COVID 19.
On the question relating to Board Exam dates, Pokhriyal said that being a student-centric government, we have always worked in the interest of the students. The CBSE is making necessary preparations for conducting the 2021 examinations, he added.
"As far as the final dates for the examinations are concerned, Board exams will not be held in the month of February and CBSE will very soon announce the dates after discussion with the stakeholders", he added.
Regarding a suggestion on providing vocational education in class IX, Pokhriyal said there are approximately 8,583 CBSE schools that offer vocational education. He informed that over 2,80,000 secondary schools, nearly 40,000 colleges and more than 1,000 universities are expected to provide vocational education with an internship after the implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The Minister also informed that CBSE, Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVS) and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) undertook a massive exercise to build online teaching capacities of their teachers as soon as the lockdown started, to ensure continuity of learning through online means, wherever possible.
"In the process, CBSE has trained 4,80,000 teachers, KVS trained 15855 and JNV trained 9085 teachers all India. The training was also imparted by NVS to teachers regarding online assessment", he added.
Pokhriyal further informed that teachers are being continuously trained for discovery-based and experiential learning. The new National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for School Education has also been initiated and NCERT will be expected to make changes in the textbooks in accordance with the new NCF. Areas, such as creative thinking, life skills, Indian ethos, art, and integration, etc. need to be integrated.
In a question relating to students to be made aware of the ethical values and morals, the Minister said that the National Education Policy (NEP), recommends, students should develop their ethical and moral reasoning. "Following the ideals of NEP, the teachers can change the mindsets of the students and inculcate ethics & values among the students", he said.
Pokhriyal highlighted that to make students aware of the importance of yoga, sports and meditation for mental/physical health, several initiatives were taken by the Ministry. The CBSE partnered with the FIT INDIA movement to engage students in various online live sessions of physical activities, he informed. (ANI)