GIVE STUDENTS, TEACHERS JABS BEFORE CBSE EXAMS: SISODIA

NEW DELHI: Conducting the CBSE Class 12 board exams without vaccinating students and teachers may prove to be a big mistake, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said on Sunday at a high-level meeting called by the Union education ministry to discuss the fate of the pending board and entrance exams, which were postponed in view of the ongoing second Covid-19 wave across the country.

The virtual meeting was chaired by Union defence minister Rajnath Singh and attended by education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, minister of women and child development Smriti Irani, and information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar. State education ministers and secretaries, CBSE officials, and chairpersons of state examination boards were also present during the meeting.

Though the meeting remained inconclusive, officials in attendance said that there was a “broad consensus” that the exams must be held, for a limited number of subjects and with a shorter duration, when the situation is under control.

Sisodia, who is also Delhi’s education minister, said the state government was not in favour of conducting exams in the current scenario.

“Families across the nation have suffered immense pain and trauma due to Covid-19. It’s time for the Union government to take a decision with respect to board exams, considering it has caused enough tension among our student and teacher community,” Sisodia said in a statement.

“Conducting board exams in these unprecedented times will be a big mistake,” he added.