Live Updates: HRD Minister on queries related to board exams, online education & academic planning amid COVID-19

Check all the live updates here related to the HRD minister's response to the queries shared by the students and their parents. 

The outbreak of the deadly novel coronavirus forced millions of students to study from home. Suspended classes, closed academic institutions and postponed exams due to the nationwide lockdown imposed in order to control the COVID-19 spread created a lot of confusion among the students and their parents.

To assist the students and parents, the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank decided to hold a webinar. On his personal Twitter handle, the minister asked students and their parents to send him their queries related to the education, exams or mental health of children during the coronavirus lockdown. According to the tweet posted by the education minister, the webinar will be held on Twitter at 1 pm today i.e. April 27. The minister has asked parents to start sharing their queries over tweets by writing to him with the hashtag –  #EducationMinisterGoesLive. The tweet soon went viral and questions the social media platform got flooded with concerns and queries.

*The Education Minister's live webinar session has ended. For all the latest updates, stay tuned with shiksha.com:

1:47 pm: Students are encouraged to read at least 4 books and share the same with us. They are also advised to share their reading experience and in what ways these books have influenced them.

1:45 pm: The minister praised teachers for going above and beyond to help students via the internet, social media and telephone to make sure their studies do not suffer during the Covid-19 lockdown.

1:40 pm: For students who belong to lower economic strata and don't have an internet connection, the ministry is telecasting classes on DTH and local cable. There are televisions in almost every home. In case, any student doesn't have a television s/he is encouraged to watch the telecast at their neighbor's place just the way we used to watch 'Ramayana' during old times. 

1:37 pm: Schools have been given guidelines through CBSE to create awareness about cleanliness among students. 

1:35 pm: Special curriculum for primary students is being formulated to make students study using different learning games. 

1:34 pm: NCERT books are delivered to almost all the states. The books will be soon available in book shops. Shops selling school books have been allowed to open. However, e-copies of all the books are available on online portals. 

1:31 pm: Ministry is working with boards to prevent loss of the academic year. Students are encouraged to visit the CBSE official website for all authentic information. 

1:27 pm: People are encouraged to download the Arogya Setu app. Follow social distancing norms and precautionary laid down by the Health Ministry. 

1:26 pm: Students are encouraged to begin their studies for the next session using the study material available on Swamprabha. Diksha and E-pathshala. NCERT has also uploaded the study material online. The online curriculum has been made available for thousands of topics on e-learning portals. 

1:23 pm: Board exams for CBSE 10th and CBSE 12th students will be conducted for 29 main subjects only once normalcy is restored. The board will release CBSE Class 10 Date Sheet 2020 and CBSE Class 12 Date Sheet 2020 after the lockdown is lifted. Scores for vocational subjects will be marked on the basis of previous exams. Ministry is working to begin the evaluation process soon.  

1:21 pm: The HRD minister to meet with all the education ministers of India on April 28, i.e. tomorrow, in order to discuss how each state can work through the education problems arising due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

1:18 pm: Students must enjoy this lockdown period and utilize this time by improving their skills. They must indulge in learning activities and are encouraged to read books and for this, the ministry launched #mybookmyfriend. 

1:16 pm: The department is working on better interaction between teachers and students to keep their learning ongoing amid the crisis. 

1:13 pm: Ministry of Human resource and development launched various online portals such as Diksha, Yukti, Swayamprabha, e-pathshala, VidyaDaan 2.0 to facilitate online education in India and provide quality academic content to students. 

1:11 pm- Entrance exams such as JEE Mains, NEET and more are postponed. The entrances will be conducted once the normalcy is restored. students can take the help of the wide variety of study material for these competitive exams available on SWAYAM portals.

1:09 pm- 83 exams of CBSE are left. However, exams will be conducted only for main subjects when the lockdown will end. CBSE board will conduct exams after reviewing the prevailing emergency condition. 

1:08 pm- The novel coronavirus outbreak adversely affected the education system of the country. India has more students than the total population of the US. 

The government extended the lockdown on April 14 until May 3 in order to contain the contagious COVID-19 pandemic. The decision resulted in the further postponement of board exams, entrance exams, college admissions, and more, increasing stress and anxiety among students. Considering the effect of the pandemic on the mental health of the students, the education minister decided to address to the students and the parents to give their issues some relief. 

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