Schools across the country will be opened only under the Safety Guidelines said the Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Tuesday during a Video conferencing meeting with education ministers of 23 states. However, he did not mention about the schools could be opened.
The minister said though the bookstores are open during the lockdown. Whereas NCERT has made e-content of books available to all states. The minister also said that he urges the state governments to cooperate in the evaluation of the answer book for board examination in their states. During the meeting, education ministers of several states also demanded to reduce the syllabus of JEE Main, NEET, and other examinations by 30% in view of the lockdown.
Sisodia said 12th students should be passed on the basis of internal examination
Education Minister of Delhi Government Manish Sisodia suggested to the Center in the meeting that due to the lockdown, it is no longer possible to conduct the 10th and 12th board examinations. Therefore, on the basis of internal examination, students should be passed on the bases of the 9th and 11th classes.
Mid-day meal will also be available during the summer holidays
Nishank said that mid-day meals would be given to children even during summer holidays in schools. Ration schools are provided for mid-day miles during the lockdown. For this, the government will spend an additional Rs 1600 crore.
Additionally, ad-hoc grants of Rs 2500 crore has been released for the first quarter under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme. He said that in view of the lockdown, the annual cost for the midday meal has been increased from 7300 crores to 8100 crores.