Education Minister of India, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ will be going live today at 4 pm. While he has stated that the agenda would be to clarify doubts of students on CBSE board exams, and he has invited concerns on the same, questions have been pouring in about JEE Main 2021 and NEET 2021 exams. There is thus a sliver of possibility that the Education Minister will touch upon the dates of the entrance exams too.
The live session shall be conducted using social media platforms facebook, and twitter. The same was tweeted by the Dr. Pokhriyal via his official twitter account yesterday. In order to get their queries resolved, students can also send their questions to the minister through Facebook, Twitter or email, as soon as possible.
As per latest reports, the JEE Main 2021 deferred exams of April and May sessions will be held in July and August, with a fortnight gap. As far as NEET 2021 is concerned, the national level medical entrance exam is anticipated to be postponed to September. However for both the exams, the government is yet to give any concrete statement.
Though it may be noted that only yesterday, it has been clarified that all class 12 board exams have been cancelled, now that the last state whose decision was pending, AP, announced that AP board exams are cancelled. Thus, further dilly-dallying on the matter of NEET and JEE Main 2021 exam dates can be put to an end now, and a final decision can be around the corner.
With regards to the CBSE exams, students are demanding cancellation of exams for private candidates.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has already announced their objective criteria. The same has also been approved by the Supreme Court. The objective criteria effectively replaces the need to hold full-fledged physical board exams. This year, the board exams for Class 12 were cancelled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the evaluation criteria, a 30-30-40 rule shall be used to evaluate Class 12 students. Accordingly, 30 percent weightage each shall be given to Class 10 and 11 while 40 percent weightage will be given to Class 12. In Class 10, the average of best three out of five subjects shall be considered. In Class 11, the final theory exam marks shall be considered for assessing students. Lastly, in Class 12, unit test, mid-semester and pre-board marks will be considered. Practical marks and internal assessments shall be awarded to students by their respective schools. These marks will then be considered to finally, curate the results.
When this decision was announced, there were mixed responses among students. Furthermore, various doubts arose regarding the evaluation criteria. One of the common questions asked by students was in case students changed their streams in Class 12, will the 30-30-40 rule still be applicable? Furthermore, in case students wish to improve their marks, when ill the re-exam be conducted?
Acknowledging these doubts, the education minister stated that due to certain COVID-19 complications, he was admitted to the hospital. Hence, he was unable to answer all these questions. However, no that he has fully recovered, Mr. Pokhriyal will be conducting a live session tomorrow. He further thanked students for the warm wishes and regards that he received while being admitted at the hospital.
The live session is scheduled to being tomorrow at 4:00 pm. Students are advised to attend this session and get their queries resolved. While the minister has not made any mention, there are also speculations that Mr. Pokhriyal might provide some clarity about JEE Main and NEET 2021. While these are mere speculations, the minister might just communicate a deadline by which the entrance exam dates will be announced.
