Amid COVID-19 lockdown, the National Testing Agency (NTA) is expected to postpone the national level entrance examinations until June 2020.
The NEET and JEE Main April 2020 examinations were postponed due to lockdown announced by the government. Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal confirmed that NTA will conduct its exams in the latter part of June.
Pokhriyal also said that the spread of Coronavirus in the country has deeply impacted the academic calendar leading to academic loss to students and the education sector. While reiterating the importance of making up for the ‘loss of time due to COVID-19’, he also added that the well being of students remained the top priority of the government.
Addressing the claims that NTA NEET UG 2020 and JEE Main 2020 will be held in the month of July a Senior official at NTA said that no such decision has been taken by the Agency as yet.
He said that no dates have been announced by NTA as yet and urged the candidates only to rely on the official notification.
A senior MHRD official also said that a decision on the CBSE and NTA exam dates can only be taken after the lockdown is lifted in the country. He said that NTA will take into account the pending Class 10 and 12 Board exams that CBSE and several other State Boards are yet to conduct.
According to a notification, the Jammu and Kashmir School Education Department has banned school bags and formal books for the pre-primary students from Nursery to UKG.
The Principal Secretary of the School Education Department stated that the students of the pre-primary levels must not carry any bag except light carrier for the lunch box. It also stated that no formal books are also prescribed.
These new rules according to media reports were formed as part of a measure to regulate the weight of the school bags.
The notification released has also prescribed limitations to the school bag weight or each class until class 10.
According to the notice, the bags of the students from class 1 and 2 must weigh 1.5 KG, bags of students from class 3 to 5 must weight 3 Kg, bags of students from class 6 and 7 must weight 4 KG, bags of students from class 8 and 9 must weight 5 Kg while bags of students from class 10 must weight 5.5 Kg.
The notification also stated that no homework must be assigned to students until class 2. The school authorities were also instructed in the notification to make sure that the students are not being asked to bring additional books.
Amid lockdown across the country, the Delhi Government has begun online version of its “happiness classes”.
Originally, the physical “happiness classes” conducted at Delhi schools were meant for their students and parents.
Delhi education minister Manish Sisodia said the “happiness classes” that go online on all days at 4 pm can help everyone during the lockdown period.
He also said “People have been confined in their homes for 20-30 days, which brings anxiety. These sessions are not just for our school’s students and their parents, but also for parents of children in private schools, and everyone else.”
The inaugural class started with an online mindfulness session by Avinash Jha, a Delhi government school teacher, “paying attention to breathing, and being mindful of what surfaces the body was touching.”
The flagship program was started in July 2018 to bust stress among students and also to raise India’s position on the World Happiness Index. During normal times the “happiness classes” are conducted in Delhi schools for students of nursery to Class 8.
In the view of COVID-19 outbreak, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has further delayed the SSC and HSC results in 2020.
The Maharashtra Education Department had permitted teachers after a national lockdown was announced on 23 to take the examination papers home for the test.
But, not a lot of teachers were able to carry these papers as a result of the unavailability of public transportation.
As the world is fighting against COVID-19, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) will release its Hall Ticket 2020 after May 3, 2020.
Candidates can check admit card on the official site of NIOS at nios.ac.in.
All the examinations conducted by NIOS has been postponed due to the Coronavirus.
As per the official notification, all examinations across India and Overseas are postponed for another three weeks due to the lockdown period. The examinations will be conducted soon after the lockdown is lifted.
The new schedule will also be notified to the candidates after the assessment of the situation and directions of the government.
The admit card will be issued to the candidates thereafter.
Going by the previous schedule, the result for March/April 2020 examination is likely announced six weeks after the last date of the examination which also remains postponed. The practical examinations were scheduled to be conducted from March 11 to March 25, 2020, which now will be conducted after lockdown.
After an extensive search, the board of governors of The Doon School has appointed Dr Jagpreet Singh as the 11th Headmaster of The Doon School. Dr Singh is a veteran educationist who has a long career spanning three decades in the field of academics. Dr Singh is currently, the headmaster of Punjab Public School, Nabha.
Dr Singh has accepted the Board’s offer of and will join School on the 5th of July.
Earlier, he was at Mayo College for over two decades and left as the Vice Principal before heading Punjab Public School, Nabha.
He holds a Master’s Degree in History, is MPhil in Education and has done his B.Ed. from Ajmer University.
He is a keen sportsman and has played Cricket and Squash with school teams for many international events.
He has also received best teacher award from Chief Justice of Rajasthan in 2003 and in 2014 he was conferred the Best Principal Award by global achievers foundation.
The headmaster’s seat at The Doon School was vacant after Matthew Raggett, Head Master of the Doon School demitted office for personal reasons. He wanted to join his family back in Germany.
Amid Coronavirus outbreak in the country, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) has released a notification regarding the first round counselling dates for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Under Graduate PG and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Under Graduate MDS.
The NEET PG 2020, NEET MDS 2020 Round 1 Counselling will be conducted by the state medical education authorities. The counselling will be organized between April 20 and May 4.
According to the official notification the Round 1 of counselling will be conducted by States from April 20 and May 4.
The NEET-PG is a common entrance test (CET) for admission to Medical Post-graduate Courses across the country.
With COVID-19 outbreak in the country, a paradigm shift can be witnessed in the working and learning styles of people. All the schools and colleges are closed due to the spread of the virus. Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 outbreak is the major accelerator that has led to a mega shift in digital teaching and learning approach. The e-learning has taken the center stage in the education sector and technology will play an important role in job sector also.
During a webinar with Elets Technomedia and Digitallearning magazine on “Transforming Indian Education Ecosystem by leveraging Technology & Online Platforms during COVID-19″, Manish Kumar, MD and; CEO, National Skill Development Corporation, said, “Our focus is to improve skilling management in the country. We have created 2.5 crore skilled workers in the country. We can create good training institutes. We have 11000 centers across the country. We provide jobs in 37 different sectors.”
He also said, “These are unprecedented times in the sector and digital learning will play an important role. There are a plethora of online resources and platforms that skill professionals can use to equip themselves. We have several collaborations and trying to provide high-quality online learning resources in our centers.
Taking over the schools, he said they are working with 7000 schools across the country. He also said the world is changing and it needs skilled workers.
The NSDC is focusing to bring women into workforce and trying to create micro- entrepreneurship in villages.
About eSkillIndia platform, he said NSDC has 400 courses and taught in 11 different languages.
He also said the new solutions for online education could bring much needed innovation and research skills that are in great demand in the competitive industry.
In the view of COVID-19 spread across the country, all the educational institutions including schools and colleges are closed. With the closure of physical schools, ed-tech firms are providing much-needed support to the education sector. The ed-tech firms are making their mark in the sector. The use of technology has surged in the last few weeks due to the lockdown.
Elets Technomedia in association with digitalLEARNING organized a webinar on “From “Jugaad” to “Systematic Adoption” of Technology “Be better prepared for the future”, in which eminent speakers from the industry presented their views over the adoption of technology in education.
Speaking over the issue, Abhay Karhade, advisor to President SVKM, Chancellor NMIMS University for IT Services said, “The COVID-19 has created huge challenges for the sector. But, it has helped us to switch on our reset button and everyone is looking at how to do things differently. If we bring changes it will help us in the future also. “
He also said, “We have used the technology in a better way as it’s a new normal for everybody. It will be a boost to the education sector”.
Karhade also said, “The utilization of technology will surge in education. The important things will be assessments, admissions, and placements. The new normal will be different and new tools will be used for a long time. “
He also emphasized on the need of IT plan in the sector which will ultimately benefit students in the long run.
Balakrishna Rao, Vice President & Chief Information Officer, Manipal Global Education Services said, “This pandemic is global and everyone is trying to build a business continuity plan. All the plans for disaster recovery are ruined. We need to respond to the crisis positively. The physical classes have transformed into virtual ones seamlessly. “
He also emphasized on social distancing and said they are trying to find out the solutions for conducting exams through online.
He also said each and every school must have digital strategy and add new things for students.
He also asked to bridge the digital literacy gaps between the schools which can add more value to the sector.
Karan Kumar, Head – Information Technology, O.P. Jindal Global University said, “Students are finding it easier to communicate during virtual classes. The crisis has forced many people to come to adopt digital ways. We need to develop infrastructure which can help our organization vertically. We need a single platform to collaborate all the data. It’s very important to compile data in one place.”
He also said small platforms can be formed to solve real-time problems. He also said it’s a good time to experiments and physical schools will not be the same post-COVID-19 crisis.
Speaking over the issue Dr Prabhat Ranjan, Vice Chancellor, Dy Patil International University said, “The situation has caught us in surprise and teachers were not ready for such a crisis. Now we are trying to find out what can be done and what can’t. The overall efficiency of teachers has plunged. The crisis has forced us to use technology in a better way.”
He is asked institutions to invest in digital infrastructure which can help them in such a crisis.
He also said teachers need training to adopt new technology which can be used in education.
According to Dr Prabhat, the bigger challenge is conducting exams for students that need to be addressed.
Hemant Sahal, Founder & CEO, CollPoll said, “The behavioral inertia has changed a lot. The education sector was not prepared for such a huge crisis. People have scaled up the use of technology. Education stakeholders and ed-tech firms have come together to tackle the crisis. The prospects are becoming better for education.”
He also said, “Institutions must realize technology decisions must be taken for long-terms. Mobility and data security must be taken care of. Institutions must be capable to integrate new technologies.”
He also said, technology team makes the difference more than the product and understanding the tech is much important.
He also urged education institutions to adopt technology for long terms.
CollPoll is a web-based campus management, engagement & analytic platform to resolve the digital compliance. It is one of the leading ed-tech firms in the country.
