Education Minister announcements on syllabus, exam dates and other details regarding JEE, NEET and CBSE Board Exams 2021
The Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishak went live on December 10, 2020 on twitter to discuss with students on upcoming board and competitive examinations. Thousands of students had reached out to Minister Pokhriyal ahead of the event through Twitter by using #EducationMinisterGoesLive. Students were seeking clarity on the CBSE Board, NEET and JEE Main Exam dates for 2021. Students also had queries on whether JEE Main and NEET 2021 syllabus be reduced as board exam syllabus has been reduced this year.
Due to closure of schools from March this year, the teachers and experts were seeking more time and requesting for physical classes before board exams. The experts have pointed out the necessity of reopening schools as an important reason for postponing CBSE Board Exams 2021.
See Video on Important updates on JEE, NEET and CBSE Board Exams 2021
Important updates on JEE, NEET & CBSE Board Exams 2021 given by Education Minister are as follows
- On the matter of postponing CBSE Board Exam 2021, the Education Minister pointed out that the schedule for the board examination is usually set earlier. Not committing to delaying the examination, Pokhriyal said that the board would keep assessing the situation and would appropriately decide on the best possible solution in terms of the date and schedule of the exam.
- On CBSE Board 2021 Practical exams, Pokhriyal said that while schools have reopened in 17 states, the attendance continues to be low. In case, he added, that the situation is still not conducive for conducting practical examinations, the board may introduce alternatives to the same. HE also noted, however, that the practical examination is conducted at the students’ own school and can be conducted while keeping the SOPs in place quite comfortably.
- On reducing JEE and NEET 2021 syllabus, the Education Minister said that the discussions are in place and it is possible that the paper pattern may be tweaked (like introducing choices or giving less questions from the portions that have been removed) in the competitive examinations. Suggestions on reducing syllabus by 10 to 20 per cent was noted by him. There is, however, no indication that the same would be done.
- Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal also dismissed the possibility of cancellation of any exams when answering a query on cancelling NEET 2021. He said that the examinations were conducted in 2020 even with the pandemic and students had been happy with the decision taken by the government and Supreme Court to not waste the year and go ahead with the exams. Similarly, the examinations would be conducted for sure.
- As for postponing JEE and NEET 2021 examinations, Pokhriyal shared that all measures would be taken to provide the exam dates to the students at the earliest. The considerations and queries of the students have been noted, Discussions, he said, are in play and as per the situations (whether conducive or not), decisions on the JEE and NEET 2021 exam dates would be taken and notified.