New Delhi: At a meeting held by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development, the Education Ministry has now ruled out the possibility of any chances of 2020-21 being a zero-academic year for students.
As has been told by Higher Education Secretary Amit Khare while clearing doubts from MPs regarding the ongoing situation, the first-year students are likely to kickstart their year by November-December, including exams and regular classes. However, for it to be declared a zero year, no such activities can ideally take place.
The said meeting was regarding the initiatives as far as digital education is concerned amid the ongoing pandemic and also present at the meeting were the likes of UGC chairman D P Singh, among others.
The panel has been made aware of a survey that has been conducted as far as CBSE-affiliated schools are concerned. After the survey, it was revealed that over 60% students have access to online classes while the remaining 30% did have partial access (radio, TV channels). However, it was about 10% students who could not attend these online classes at all.
As has been said by an MP, an exhaustive survey across the nation is currently underway and the results will be out later, however, the MP also informed how no discussion regarding reopening of schools and universities was done given there is no assurity on when the pandemic will come to an end.
Meanwhile, it is also being said that while the institutions have all been kept shut until the end of August 2020, whenever the decision to reopen schools is made, they will start with Class 11 and 12 students. Among other things, ongoing initiatives were discussed, suggestions regarding the usage of various media were put forth, and a test on the basis of a set question bank was also suggested.
