Academic Year 2020-21 Won't Be A 'Zero Year', Classes To Be Held Regularly

As per the Education Ministry updates, Academic Year 2020-21 will be held smoothly without such interruptions.

After 5 months of closure of the colleges and higher education institutions across the country, the Education Ministry has informed all the students that the academic year 2020-21 will not be “Zero Year”. As per the latest update informed by the Union Education Ministry, that it is hopeful of conducting Classes and also holding Exams in near future. There was a meeting held on Monday regarding the same where Education Ministry presented its case before the Parliament Panel confirming to that and they said, it is also trying to conduct exams by the end of the session, according to the sources details.

The comprehensive meeting was attended by the School education secretary, higher education secretary, University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman and other officials of the Education Ministry. In this meeting, all the professionals briefed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resources about their astounding efforts to streamline education of students at school and higher education level across the country amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and crisis.

Parliamentary Panel Questioned Holding of Online Classes

According to the media reports, Parliamentary Panel Chairman Vinay Sahasrabuddhe also questioned the officials of Education Ministry about the possibility of holding online classes for students and its effectiveness in terms of learning outcomes.

The panel said that ministry must consider the feasibility of online classes for poor families who cannot afford to have mobile phones or laptop computers. More than this, Panel also said that in poor families where there might just one smartphone or mobile phone, it would be difficult for students to get access to online education.

Community Radio Based Education Classes For Better Reach

As a substitute, the Parliamentary Panel on HRD has recommended the Education ministry to employ community radio and transistor fir delivering the online classes to the students via using the medium of radio. Using this method would be better and cost-effective compared to mobile phones, can be provided to poor students.

In addition, the Parliamentary Panel also suggested that respective departments within the ministry should compile a "big question bank" of all subjects for students, which can be distributed among all of them to help in preparing for the exams in next session. This will help in addressing the exam management issue as well as ease the anxiety and fear among students amid this coronavirus crisis.