Amid Coronavirus epidemic across the country, Chhattisgarh Board of Secondary Education has further postponed the Class 10 and Class 12 board exams.
The Central government has announced lockdown in the country till May 3, 2020.
The remaining board exams which were scheduled from May 4 to May 8, 2020 are further postponed.
However, the board will soon release the final exam schedule after the lockdown is lifted.
The board said the exams are postponed till further notice but not cancelled. Students can visit official website of the board i.e. cgbse.nic.in for further notice.
Earlier, the exams were scheduled from March 2 to March 30, 2020 which were postponed due to the COVID19 outbreak.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Chhattisgarh has 40 cases of coronavirus out of which 36 are cured.
Students were asked not to follow any fake news over exams.
Proving relief to the students, the Delhi Government asked private schools to ensure that online classes to students of Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), Disadvantaged Group (DG) and Children With Special Needs (CWSN) category.
Schools are closed from mid-March due to the Coronavirus epidemic across the country. The schools are providing online classes to students.
The Directorate of Education, said: “All the Private Unaided Recognized Schools providing online learning material or classes to the students are hereby directed to ensure that online classes or learning material is also provided to the students admitted under EWS, DG, CWSN category.”
In the lockdown, educators and parents alike had expressed concerns about the accessibility of online classes.
The directorate instructed private schools that “in no case, any EWS, DG, CWSN category student shall be deprived from providing online classes or learning material”.
It said that schools “shall ensure the same in a similar manner as being provided to General category students”.
The CBSE officials have said that the board is still awaiting official communication from the HRD Ministry to resume the evaluation process of class 10 and 12 examination answer sheets. The evaluation has been stalled on March 18, 2020, due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Officials have also stated that guidelines regarding the evaluation will be made by the board only after receiving confirmation from the MHRD.
HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal in a meeting conducted recently with the state education ministers has asked the state boards to start the evaluation process for the board examination answer sheets and also assist in the CBSE in the same.
The CBSE will need close to 45 days to evaluate more than 1 crore answer sheets of the students.
In the meeting conducted, the Delhi Education Minister and the Punjab Education Minister were among those who rooted for the idea of canceling the remaining examinations and announce the results based on the internal assessment and pre-board exams.
Amidst Coronavirus pandemic, the Jawaharlal Nehru University has extended the application dates for JNUEE 2020 Admission Test. The candidates can visit the official site-jnuexams.nta.nic.in to apply.
Earlier, NTA had extended application timelines for several entrance exams being conducted by it owing to the extension in the lockdown. However, as the lockdown is likely to be extended further, especially in red zones or hotspot regions, the agency in consultation with the JNU officials seems to have decided to further extend the application dates.
In line with the other entrance exams that are organized by the NTA, the application process for JNUEE 2020 exam is also completely online and needs to be completed by logging onto exam portal jnuexams.nta.nic.in.
There is an unprecedented halt witnessed in the education sector with the emergence of Coronavirus epidemic. All the exams are postponed or cancelled due to the global pandemic.
In the wake of the Coronavirus epidemic, the government of India has declared lockdown till May 3, 2020. To ensure the safety of the general public, the govt has asked to close down public places including malls, offices, market places and etc. All the state and district borders are sealed until further notice.
The govt has closed all the educational institutions across the country. The COVID crisis has caused an unprecedented halt to the education sector. Most of the exams are postponed or cancelled due to the epidemic. Technology is used widely by the govt and private sectors to ensure education for the students. The ed-tech firms have seen a huge surge in the epidemic.
During a webinar with Elets Technomedia and digitalLEARNING Magazine Hemraj Bairwa IAS, Special Secretary (Higher Education), Department of Education, Government of Himachal Pradesh said “ The challenge was to reach out to children who are residing in interior areas of the state. As the lockdown announced, our class 10th exams were finished. We are trying to use technology to utilize this time to teach students. With internet services not so good in the state, we are proving content to board students through DD Shimla from 10 am to 1 pm.”
He also said “Over 90 pc schools are using the internet to provide education in urban areas and over 60 pc students are actively learning on internet platforms across the state. They have named the initiative as Samay 10 se 12 wala, Har Ghar Bane Pathshala”.
“In Himachal Pradesh, there are 15,000 schools and 131 colleges. The Department of Education has uploaded the e-syllabus on the SSA portal Swayam Siddham, website. The department has given 10 to 12 home-based schools for this campaign. This class will be held daily and children will be given different homework daily”, he added.
He also said All India Radio will provide content to students very soon as they are waiting for the nod.
When asked over creating quality content, he said “We have created resource group for creating content. Three-four teachers are in a group to create content and worksheet also. The group sends its content to the education department so that quality can be checked. It’s a huge challenge for curating content but we have found the solution through digital content. ”
“For junior students, we have developed a microsite which provides the content to them through the internet as we have got only three hours slot from DD. We are improvising every day so that students can understand content with ease”, he added.
Over the usage of technology, he said COVID has changed the higher education and people found new ways. The usage of the digital platform has surged. Virtual education is developing and schools are creating e-classrooms to tackle such crisis in the future. But virtual classrooms will never replace the physical ones. ”
Over placements, he said the education department has started Bachelor in Vocational program in retail management and hospitality sectors.
Over stranded people in other states, he said “the CM has asked to bring back the students from Kota. Himachal Pradesh will put all the efforts to bring back stranded ones outside of the state.
Over power cuts in the state, he said “Himachal being a hilly state, has natural calamities to tackle with. There is power connectivity in every house and the tariff is very low. The cuts are very minimal.”
Lastly, he said the state govt has announced to promote students from class 1 to 9 and 11th.
National Testing Agency (NTA) will end the online application process for various exams including IGNOU OPENMAT 2020, JNUEE 2020 and ICAR AIEEA 2020.
Earlier, NTA had decided to extend the application timelines for four important entrance exams it conducts.
Candidates can visit official site nta.ac.in and complete application process.
In order to complete the registration process for NTA Entrance Exams 2020, candidates need to log onto the respective website of exam via NTA website i.e. nta.nic.in.
Steps to complete the application forms
– Log onto the respective official website for the entrance exam
– Find the link for the application form provided on the respective website
– Register on the portal by providing details
– Log into the website using your newly created login credentials
– Complete the application form displayed on the screen and upload necessary documents
– Pay the requisite amount of application fee and submit the application
Keeping the Coronavirus crisis in view, the Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank, will host a second webinar to address the students’ queries. The webinar will be organized on May 2, 2020 at 12 noon.
The minister aims to address the academic issues and challenges faced by students during the global coronavirus pandemic. The live session which will be hosted on the official social media platforms. Students have been encouraged to ask questions with #EducationMinisterGoesLive hashtag on Twitter. Earlier, a webinar was conducted to address the questions of concerned parents regarding the academic future of the students.
According to the video posted on the official twitter handle the minister said: “In the last webinar, I got the opportunity to speak the parents and I got many suggestions and questions from. I believe students also have a lot of questions in your mind. I urge students to send all your queries and suggestions on my twitter handle.”
“I am very glad that along with parents, the teachers are also boosting the morale of students and taking out time to bring the study material to the students,” Pokhriyal further added.
After a webinar with parents and students, the minister will also hold a separate webinar for the teachers.
In March, all the educational institutions were shut down to control the spread coronavirus in the country. All the examinations including board exams and entrance tests have been postponed till after the lockdown.
Proving relief to private schools, the Delhi High Court has rightly dismissed a petition seeking exemption from payment of school fees duration the lockdown. The plea argued that the crisis had led to job losses and pay cuts, and parents should not be forced to pay fees to schools as the premises are shut.
According to Rule 165 of the Delhi School Education Rules, 1973, which states that if a school is shut on the 10th day of a month—the period by when fees need to be paid—the payment can be deferred till the 10th day after it re-opens.
The petitioner argued that since schools remain shut, even tuition fees shouldn’t be charged from parents. However, the High Court rejected this invocation of Rule 165, ruling that it specified only the payability conditions of fees, and not the chargeability of it.
The High Court noted, it is much more difficult for teachers to take classes online and their efforts cannot be ignored.
Even with online classes, schools are incurring expenditure and maintaining the required digital infrastructure for students. Schools hiring platforms to deliver e-lessons also need to pay the fees these charge.
To suggest that schools should not charge the tuition fees because they are shut is without foundation, because their fundamental deliverables have not been suspended.
The current economic milieu has put pressures on all sectors.
Amidst Coronavirus pandemic in the country, Uttar Pradesh Board is expected to start the evaluation of board exam answer sheets from May 4. It is being reported that UP Deputy Chief Minister said the UP Board has adopted the NCERT curriculum and may think of limiting the syllabus.
Meanwhile, the UP Board had concluded board examinations before the lockdown. But it was unable to complete the evaluation process for board exam answer sheets. The minister said that UP Board will begin paper evaluation immediately after the lockdown ends.
Considering that UP Board will begin evaluation for board exam papers from May 4, speculations are rife that UP Board results 2020 will be released soon.
UP Board results, when announced on its official website i.e. ‘upresults.nic.in‘.
Meanwhile, in the meeting held with state education ministers and HRD minister, several issues regarding school education was discussed.
Many education ministers across the nation urged the union HRD minister to limit the syllabus for the benefit of students.
According to reports, the University Grants Commission plans to follow the recommendations put forth by one of its committees led by Haryana University Vice-Chancellor RC Kuhad which states that the new academic year must begin in September instead of July 2020. The situation arrived due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
The panels set up by the UGC conducted meetings through video and audio conferencing and came up with a bunch of suggestions and conclusions based on the interactions with the VCs of the different universities, and principals of colleges.
The UGC has emphasized that the suggestions put forth by the committee are in no way hindering the advisory released by the government.
It further stated that the universities must conduct a thoroughchecking on the travel history of the staff and students.
The committee has also asked for the academic calendar to be re-labelled and declare the suspension of classes from March 16 and the continuation of classes via e-learning from March 16 to May 15, 2020.
The universities are free to declare a vacation from June 1 to 30 and the exams will be conducted from July 1 to 15 with the results to be declared by August 2020.
The committee has also recommended online viva and practical examinations for the students.
