Junior Digest

New Delhi, Sep 7,2020: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the New Education Policy 2020 goes ahead of the curriculum to focus on critical thinking and lays stress on passion, practicality and performance.

Addressing the inaugural session of the Governors’ Conference on National Education Policy through video conferencing here, the PM said,’the New Education Policy focuses on learning instead of studying and goes ahead of the curriculum to focus on critical thinking. In this policy, we have stressed on passion, practicality and performance.’

The PM said that the NEP will prepare the youth of the country with knowledge and skills as per the future requirements.

‘With vocational exposure right from early age, our youth will get better prepared for life. Our youth’s participation in the global job market and employability in India will increase with practical learning,’the PM said.

Stating that the Government was striving to make India into a knowledge economy in the 21st century, he said the new education policy has paved the way for tackling the brain drain and also for setting up the best international institutions in campus in India for the youth of ordinary families.

‘ NEP 2020 has opened the way for establishment of best international institutions’ campus across the country and this will play an important role in tackling brain drain and will allow the youth from ordinary families to receive world-class education in India.

When top campuses will open in India, our students will get more competitive and will not have to go abroad for quality education,’the PM said.

The prime minister expressed confidence that NEP 2020 will give direction to country’s goal of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and help India become more self-reliant in future.

“True knowledge liberates minds. With the new NEP 2020, youth can study subjects as per their interest. New Education Policy is important for fulfilling national aspirations,” the PM said.

Sept09,2020:A recent report on the latest National Statistical Organisation (NSO) survey shows just how stark is the digital divide across States, cities and villages, and income groups. The survey on household social consumption related to education was part of the NSO’s 75th round, conducted from July 2017 to June 2018. The final report was released recently.

Across India, only one in ten households have a computer — whether a desktop, laptop or tablet. However, almost a quarter of all homes have Internet facilities, accessed via a fixed or mobile network using any device, including smartphones.

Most of these Internet-enabled homes are located in cities, where 42% have Internet access. In rural India, however, only 15% are connected to the internet.
The national capital has the highest Internet access, with 55% of homes having such facilities. Himachal Pradesh and Kerala are the only other States where more than half of all households have Internet. At the other end of the spectrum is Odisha, where only one in ten homes have Internet. There are ten other States with less than 20% Internet penetration, including States with software hubs such as Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The biggest divide is by economic status, which the NSO marks by dividing the population into five equal groups, or quintiles, based on their usual monthly per capita expenditure. Even in Odisha, almost 63% of homes in the top urban quintile have Internet facilities. In the poorest quintile of rural Odisha, however, that figure drops to an abysmal 2.4%.

Kerala shows the least inequality: more than 39% of the poorest rural homes have Internet, in comparison to 67% of the richest urban homes. Himachal Pradesh also fares well, with 40% of the lowest rural quintile having Internet. Assam shows the most stark inequality, with almost 80% of the richest urban homes having the Internet access denied to 94% of those in the poorest rural homes in the State.

The Centre has directed State Education Departments to map the online access available to all their students in order to adequately plan curriculum and teaching methods that can reach such students. Although much of the focus has been on digital platforms, television and radio are also being used to deliver lessons.

Of course, having Internet access is no guarantee that one can use it. The NSO report shows that 20% of Indians above the age of 5 years had basic digital literacy, doubling to just 40% in the critical age group of 15 to 29 years, which includes all high school and college students as well as young parents responsible for teaching younger children.

Even as digital literacy is likely to grow during this pandemic, concerns remain about basic literacy, with September 8 celebrated as International Literacy Day. More than one in five Indians above 7 years still cannot read and write in any language. Over the last decade, literacy rates have increased from 71.7% to 77.7%, with the highest gains coming among rural women.

A State-wise split of literacy rates also throws up some unexpected results. Andhra Pradesh has the country’s lowest literacy rate, at just 66.4%, significantly lower than less developed States such as Chhattisgarh (77.3%), Jharkhand (74.3%), Uttar Pradesh (73%), and Bihar (70.9%). Kerala remains at the top of the pile with 96.2% literacy, followed by three northern States: Delhi (88.7%), Uttarakhand (87.6%) and Himachal Pradesh (86.6%).[The Hindu report]

New Delhi, Sep 22,2020: Parliament on Tuesday passed a legislation to declare the five new IIITs in Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala and Raichur as institutes of national importance, enabling them to award degrees.

The Indian Institutes of Information Technology Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020, was introduced in Rajya Sabha by Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Monday. The bill was passed by Lok Sabha in March.

Nishank said there are 25 IIITs in the country, of which five are run by the Union government and 15 operate under the public-private-partnership model.

“We have brought the proposal before this House to bring five new operational institutes, which are located and have started operations in Surat (Gujarat), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Bhagalpur (Bihar), Agartala (Tripura) and Raichur (Karnataka), under this legislation,” Nishank said.

Bringing the five new IIITs under this law will make them institutes of national importance and they will have the legal right to grant diplomas, degrees, and PhDs, he said.

The institutes were hitherto registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and did not have the power to award degrees or diplomas.

The bill will also enable the institutes to attract enough students to develop a strong research base in the field of information technology. The five IIITs, set up on the PPP model, can now use the nomenclature B.Tech, M.Tech and PhD.

During a debate on the bill in Rajya Sabha, BJP lawmaker Kamakhya Prasad Tasa thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Education Minister Nishank for including the institute in Agartala in the bill.

BJD’s Sasmit Patra too supported the bill.

V Vijayasai Reddy of YSRCP said including more institutes in the new law will help students in getting jobs. He urged the government to make India a global education hub and also asked it to consider setting up another IIIT in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

RCP Singh of JD(U) suggested standardisation of all IIITs and creating a faculty pool for all such institutes.

However, raising concerns over the fee structure, K Ravindra Kumar of TDP said all new IIITs are under PPP model and students have to bear all expenses. He said he wondered how the meritorious but poor students would afford it.

He also raised the issue of quality in higher technical education and asked whether there is any provision of quality assessment.

Replying to the members, the education minister said technology is one of the high priority areas for this government and it is enhancing the adoption of technology across the sector to raise productivity and standards.

“The New Education Policy along with technology would strengthen the foundation of the New India,” he said.

He said the government has given priority to the Northeast in this bill.

“In IIITs, the Government of India contributes 50 per cent and the rest 35 per cent and 15 per cent are from the respective state governments and the industry. While in the case of the Northeast, 50 per cent sum of the industry participation is taken care of by the Government of India,” he said.

On making India an education hub, Nishank said more than 1,000 students from ASEAN countries come for research in IITs.

The bill amends the Indian Institutes of Information Technology Act, 2014 and the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Public-Private Partnership) Act, 2017.

Washington, Jul 10,2020: Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has filed a federal suit to prevent the US government from enforcing a rule that would imperil international students if their universities switch to online-only courses in the fall due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief to bar the US Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from enforcing the federal guidelines released on Monday, according to the Harvard Crimson newspaper. The new rule has caused anxiety among the tens of thousands of foreign students studying in the United States.

“The order came down without notice — its cruelty surpassed only by its recklessness,” Harvard president Lawrence Bacow wrote in an email to affiliates.

“We believe that the ICE order is bad public policy, and we believe that it is illegal,” he added.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Boston, came as guidelines released Monday by the ICE vowed to invalidate foreign students’ F-1 and M-1 visas if the educational institution they are enrolled in only offers online courses this coming fall, possibly depriving them from legally remaining in the United States.

Students facing such a situation “must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status,” the release said. Those who violate the rules “may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings.”

“(The) ICE’s action proceeded without any indication of having considered the health of students, faculty, university staff, or communities … or the absence of other options for universities to provide their curricula to many of their international students,” the lawsuit by the two prestigious universities reads.

Harvard announced Monday it will only allow up to 40 percent of undergraduates, including all first-year students, to return to campus for the fall semester. The rest of the students will continue to learn remotely.

Meanwhile, MIT said Tuesday seniors will be the only undergraduates to be invited back to campus this fall. Non-seniors may “request special consideration for housing if they face challenges related to safety, living conditions, visa status, or other hardship,” the university said in a plan posted on its website.

New Delhi,14,2020:The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the STARS project under the New Education Policy to support states in strengthening the school education system, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference, Javadekar said the Modi government has started implementing the NEP-2020 and as part of the process it has approved the Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) project.

The centrally sponsored project will be implemented by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education. It will cover Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha, he said.

The World Bank-supported project is estimated to cost Rs 5,718 crore, he said.

The project aims to support the states in developing and improving school education outcomes, the minister said.

New Delhi , Aug 17,2020: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking the postponement of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) scheduled to be held in September 2020.
A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra dismissed the plea observing that the career of students cannot be put under jeopardy for long. “Life cannot be stopped. We have to move ahead with all safeguards and all… Are you (students) ready to waste one whole year?” Justice Mishra said.
“Now, the courts are also going to open gradually for physical hearing. We also have these glass panels now,” Justice Mishra said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the National Testing Agency, submitted before the apex court that all the safeguards will be taken while holding the exam.
Advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava for the petitioners told the court that lakhs of students are looking to Supreme Court for relief. He said that Prime Minister also said on Independence Day that vaccine is on its way.
The petition, filed by eleven students from eleven states, contended that the decision to hold JEE (main) exam through online mode from September 1 to 6 and NEET UG-2020 through offline mode on September 13 at 161 centres across India are arbitrary, whimsical and violative of the fundamental right to life of lakhs of affected students.
The plea said that the Institution of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) had cancelled the CA exams citing COVID-19 risk and remaining exams of CBSE/ICSE/ISC have also been cancelled. It said that the Common Law Admission Entrance Test (CLAT) and the National Institute of Open School exams have also been postponed.
“Lakhs of young students are likely to appear in the aforesaid JEE (Main) April-2020 and NEET UG-2020 Exams in the month of September 2020. Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases are increasing in India at an alarming rate. The deadly pandemic COVID-19 has already affected about 20 Lakh people in India and the situation is worsening by every passing day,” the plea said.
“Conducting the aforesaid examination across India at such perilous time is nothing else but putting lives of lakhs of young students (including petitioners herein) at utmost risk and danger of disease and death,” it added.

NEW DELHI:June 26, 2020: The Supreme Court accepted a Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) scheme where students of class 10 and 12 will be assessed for the exams cancelled due to the pandemic by taking an average of their best performance in the papers they have already taken.
The cancelled exams were originally scheduled between July 1 and 15. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for CBSE, said the assessment scheme is available on the official website.

“Assessment of the performance of students in the cancelled examinations will be done based on the assessment scheme,” a three-judge Bench led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar referred to the CBSE notification in a 10-page order.

The Bench said its order and the notification will govern “any petition pending in this court or any other court concerning the subject of conducting examinations for classes 10 and 12 by the CBSE scheduled from July 1 to July 15”.
ICSE Plan

The ICSE, represented by senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, said it will have a “slightly different” assessment scheme from that of the CBSE. The ICSE had also cancelled its exams scheduled between July 1 and 14. Mr. Gupta informed the court that its scheme would be available on its website in a week.

According to the CBSE scheme, students of Class X and XII who have completed their exams would be assessed on their performance. Those who have taken the exam in more than three subjects will be assessed after the average in their three best performing subjects is taken to assess their scores for the cancelled papers. If students have appeared for only three exams so far, the average of the best two subjects would be taken as their scores in the cancelled papers. In a few cases such as Delhi, if students have appeared in one or two subjects, the average of these marks along with their internal and practical scores would be used for assessment. Assessment results would be out by July 15.

The assessment results would be treated as final for class 10. However, class 12 students can choose to appear for “optional examinations” to be held in future for the exams that were cancelled. These optional exams would be held when the health situation is “more conducive”.

However, unlike CBSE, Mr. Gupta said the ICSE may allow its class 10 students to appear for an optional exams like their class 12 counterparts.

Parents, who are the petitioners in this case and represented by advocate Rishi Malhotra, said a time limit should be specified for the class 12 CBSE students to decide whether they want to appear in the optional exams.

Mr. Malhotra suggested that students should specify within 15 days of the declaration of the assessment results whether they want to appear in the optional examinations.

“The option has to be exercised by the student within 15 days, otherwise this will lead to further litigation They have to conduct the exam within a certain period, say within 15 days of declaration of results. This would be bind the students to take a call within a period,” Mr. Malhotra submitted.

To this, Mr. Mehta countered, “suppose the situation gets conducive in October. Then, let the students decide in September. Why 15 days? Why put pressure on them to take a decision… What we do must be pro student”.

The court agreed with the Solicitor General, saying “whenever the CBSE decides to conduct the optional exam, it will be notified and the dates will come in that notification”.

UNITED NATIONS:Aug04,2020: U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday that the world faces a “generational catastrophe” because of school closures amid the coronavirus pandemic and said that getting students safely back to the classroom must be “a top priority.”

Guterres said that as of mid-July schools were closed in some 160 countries, affecting more than 1 billion students, while at least 40 million children have missed out on pre-school.

This came on top of more than 250 million children already being out of school before the pandemic and only a quarter of secondary school students in developing countries leaving with basic skills, he said in a video statement.

“Now we face a generational catastrophe that could waste untold human potential, undermine decades of progress, and exacerbate entrenched inequalities,” said Guterres as he launched a U.N. “Save our Future” campaign.

“Once local transmission of COVID-19 is under control, getting students back into schools and learning institutions as safely as possible must be a top priority,” he said. “Consultation with parents, carers, teachers and young people is fundamental.”

The U.N. recommendations for getting global education back on track come as U.S. President Donald Trump pushes for schools to reopen in the face of opposition from some teachers and parents while COVID-19 is surging in many parts of the country.

New Delhi, Jul 4,2020: The JEE and NEET examinations, for admission to undergraduate engineering and medical courses respectively, have been postponed and the Joint Entrance Examination-Main (JEE-Main) will be now be held from September 1-6, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The JEE Advanced will be held on September 27 and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) on September 13.
Stating that “students’ health is the first priority”, Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on Friday announced the decision to postpone the entrance examinations for the NEET UG 2020 and JEE till September.
The decision will impact over 25 lakh students as the postponement will lead to corresponding delay in the beginning of the academic year for new students, possibly reducing a semester. As many as nine lakh candidates have registered to take the JEE Main, and approximately 16 lakh for NEET.
In his address to the students, Mr Pokhriyal said “our priority during this epidemic is to ensure safety and academic welfare of students. We will ensure that while conducting the examination, we strictly follow the guidelines given by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Health Ministry so that students are kept away from the grip of this epidemic.”
He said social distancing will also be followed in the examination centres and all other precautionary arrangements will also be made. Mr Pokhriyal advised all the students to remove all kinds of stress from their minds and pay attention to their studies.
The National Testing Agency has prepared a testing App for all the candidates through which students can complete their preparations.
JEE-Main was originally scheduled to be held between April 7 to 11, while NEET was scheduled for May 3, after school board examinations were completed. However, due to COVID-19-induced lockdown from March 24, board examinations were affected.
JEE-Main and NEET were then rescheduled to July 18-23 and July 26 respectively. For IIT aspirants, JEE-Main is only the first stage, followed by the JEE-Advanced examination which had been rescheduled for August 23.
Earlier this evening, Mr Pokhriyal, who was taking part in a webinar on Fit India, was pestered by demands from anxious students and parents to postpose the examinations.
The announcement came after the Fit India webinar, during which the HRD Minister was persistently questioned regarding the dates for NEET and JEE Main exams.
Recently, parents of candidates from West Asian countries, who are aspiring to appear for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET UG 2020), had filed a plea in the Supreme Court demanding that the medical entrance exam be postponed.
A committee was set up by the HRD Ministry to review the Covid-19 situation in the country and whether conducting the NEET and JEE tests would be safe or not.
“Looking at the prevailing circumstances and requests received from students and parents appearing for #JEE & #NEET examinations, a committee consisting of DG NTA and other experts has been advised to review the situation & submit its recommendations to HRD Ministry latest by tomorrow,” Mr Pokhriyal had tweeted.

Karnal (Haryana) , July 12,2020: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday announced that the girl students will be provided passports on the completion of their graduation degrees and the entire process would be completed in college.
“The state government has decided that all girl students should get a passport from their institutions along with their graduation degree”, announced the Haryana CM during a programme “Har Sar Helmet” organised on Saturday to provide learners’ driving licenses and free helmets to about 100 students in Karnal.
He also stated that learner’s licences would be given to students to make them aware of traffic rules.
On this occasion, CM Khattar also distributed helmets to some of the students and added that “such a program is different from the political subject and it would have long term results.”
He further stated that wearing a helmet could reduce the number of fatalities in accidents.
“Around 1,300 accidents take place in the country daily. A majority of the victims without helmet succumb to their injuries. Approximately 13 people die daily in accidents in Haryana,” the Haryana CM added.
“Studies show that if a person drives a vehicle wearing a helmet, there is an 80 per cent chance of survival in the accident.”

New Delhi , June 28,2020: The Supreme Court on Sunday dismissed the plea challenging the Rajasthan High Court decision upholding the conduct of two remaining State Board Examinations for Class 10 on June 29 and 30.
A three-judge bench led by Justice AM Khanwilkar dismissed the plea. The apex court stated that Rajasthan High Court order under challenge was passed a month back i.e. on May 29 and since then there has been no COVID-19 positive cases located in the examination centres. The top court said that state government is taking precautions.
Earlier also, the top court had passed similar order for Karnataka State Board exams.
The plea, citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation, stated that the decision of the state board of conducting the Secondary examination of the remaining two papers of Class 10 to be conducted on June 29 and 30 is “erroneous” and deserves to be set aside.
The plea filed by the parent of a Class 10 student who had appeared for four exams conducted by the board, stated that the decision to conduct the remaining examinations during the midst of COVID-19 is arbitrary and in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution.
“About 120 schools which are designated examination centres were used to quarantine people for shelter labourers in transit and that the conducting of examinations is wrong, illegal and discriminatory for the reason that it jeopardises the health of the students undertaking the exams and thus, amounting to violation of Article 21 and 14 of the constitution,” stated the plea.
“The High Court failed to appreciate that the state board has not given any solution to the practical problems such as the movements of the students residing in the containment zones and the unavailability of private vehicles for all students, thereby restricting the movement,” the petition read.
It also said that recently the Supreme Court accepted the decision of the CBSE and ICSE to cancel the remaining exams of Class 10 and 12 scheduled from July 1 to 15 in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the board of secondary education in Rajasthan, which had conducted the last exam on March 18 directed that remaining two exams will be conducted in June 29 and 30 and 11,86,418 students of Class 10 would be giving exams, plea said.

New Delhi [India], Aug 14,2020: Compartment examinations for classes 10 and 12 of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) are proposed to be conducted in September 2020, the Board said in a circular on Thursday.
The dates for the examination will be announced soon as per the Board. CBSE will be issuing two circulars for appearing in Compartment examinations – for regular candidates appearing through schools and for private candidates applying directly through the CBSE website.
The CBSE said that for class 12, regular candidates who appeared in February/March 2020 through schools affiliated to the Board and declared as Compartment are eligible to apply only in one subject which was placed in Compartment.
For class 10, regular candidates who appeared in February/March 2020 through schools affiliated to the Board and declared as Compartment are eligible to apply in one or two subjects which were placed in Compartment, CBSE added.
The normal fee to be remitted per subject for class X/XII Compartmental examination is Rs 300 for schools in India. it is Rs 2,000 per subject for schools outside India. The schedule for online submission of fee is between August 13 to 5 pm on August 20. Candidates can pay a late fee of Rs 2,000 in addition to the regular fee for late submissions up to 5 pm on August 22.

June 25, 2020: The Central Board of Secondary Education and Union government on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that board examinations for Class X and XII will be cancelled in view of COVID-19 pandemic. The examinations were scheduled to be held between July 1 and 15.

The Class XII students can opt for assessment scheme to be notified by CBSE shortly or they can opt to appear in exams when conditions become conducive, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed a Supreme Court Bench.

Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu had conveyed their inability to conduct CBSE exams.

CBSE will conduct exam when condition becomes conducive, Mr. Mehta told the Bench. When asked who will decide if the condition is conducive, he replied Central government will decide.

Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) also agreed with the government’s decision to cancel remaining exams. The Bombay High Court had raised concerns over the conduct of the exams in the midst of rising COVID-19 cases and deaths. It asked the ICSE authorities to make their stand clear on the exams.

A bunch of parents approached the apex court urging it to cancel the board exams in the wake of the coronavirus disease.
Seeing that any improvement in the situation was difficult to predict, Punjab, Telangana and Tamil Nadu have cancelled class 10 exams for their students this year.

The petition filed in the Supreme Court by the parents of class 12 students has sought a direction to CBSE to declare results on the basis of tests already conducted, and calculate the total on average basis with internal assessment marks of the remaining subjects.

Sept 22,2020:The delayed academic session for freshers in universities and colleges will begin from November 1, and the winter break this year, the summer vacation in 2021 and other holidays would be curtailed to compensate for the time lost, according to the University Grants Commission. The guidelines by an expect committee, set up for revising the academic calendar in view of COVID-19 pandemic, have been accepted by the UGC and accordingly universities have been recommended a six-day teaching learning schedule every week.
As per the revised calendar, the admission process for first year students needs to be completed by October 31 and classes for the first semester should commence by November 1. In order to compensate for the loss of academic time, the UGC has asked colleges to teach six days a week and shorten the winter break this year and the summer break next year.
Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16 when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as part of measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

New Delhi, Aug4,2020: Union Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ launched a two-month academic calendar for students from sixth to eighth grade.
In the guidelines, there is provision to get education at home on mobile, WhatsApp message, TV radio and social media platforms.
Dr Pokhriyal, who tweeted this information, said he is releasing an alternate academic calendar for eight weeks, which contains guidelines for teachers on how to use social media and technology to teach students at home.
He said this calendar will also empower students, teachers, principals and parents.
This will help to use resources about online teaching in the Corona era to yield better results.
The calendar contains week-wise plan consisting of interesting and challenging activities, with reference to theme/chapter taken from syllabus or textbook to facilitate teachers/parents to assess the progress in the learning of children and also to go beyond textbooks.
It also covers experiential learning activities such as Arts Education, Physical Exercises, yoga, and pre-vocational skills. The Calendar contains class-wise and subject-wise activities in tabular forms and includes activities related to four languages as subject areas –Hindi English, Urdu and Sanskrit.

New Delhi , September 6,2020: A virtual meeting of G20 Education Ministers was held on Saturday to discuss and share experiences of member countries in the three identified areas of education continuity in times of crises, early childhood education and internationalization in education, Ministry of Human Resource Development said on Sunday.
Yesterday’s meeting was the culmination of ongoing discussions on these themes, conducted virtually due to the Covid 19 pandemic, said the Ministry.
“Education Ministers of G 20 nations have resolved to work together and share best practices in the area of education so that member countries can ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, even in times of crises,” a release from the Ministry said.
Representing India, Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said that these themes are also priority areas that the government of India has been pursuing.
“India’s commitment for these themes is reflected in the new National Education Policy 2020 that seeks to bring in transformational changes in the education landscape of the country,” the release said.
According to the release, the Minister said India will continue the efforts it has taken to reform and transform its education system and mitigate the challenge posed by the Covid 19 pandemic. He also said India is committed to collaborate with G 20 member countries in the area of education.
“The Education Ministers adopted a communique at the end of the meeting. Regarding ensuring education continuity in times of crises, the communique recognizes the value of distance and blended teaching and learning and underscore the importance of enhancing access to high-quality education, professional development for educators, digital infrastructure and content, cybersecurity awareness, appropriate teaching methodologies and active learning, while recognizing that these approaches complement face-to-face learning,” the release said.
The communique, as per the release, expresses the resolve to encourage internationalization in education by sharing of best practices in education and the adaptation of such practices at the local, national, and international levels, as appropriate.
“It also supports advancing the discussion on internationalization at the K-12 level. The communique emphasizes the impact of internationalization practices in a country in broadening students’ intercultural and global competencies and in providing equal learning opportunities and experiences for all,” said the release.

Washington DC , July 7 ,2020: The international students pursuing courses in the United States must leave the country if their institutes have switched to complete the online course due to the coronavirus pandemic, said the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).
“The US Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will US Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States. Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status. If not, they may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings,” read the order.
The new order has created uncertainty among the international students, Brad Farnsworth, vice president of the American Council on Education, was quoted as saying by CNN. “We think this is going to create more confusion and more uncertainty.”
“This is going to create I think more anxiety on the part of international students and for those who are still thinking about where they are going to go in the fall. I think this may push them in the direction of attending a university in another country,” he said.
Theresa Cardinal Brown, director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said in this situation, the bigger issue is “some of these countries have travel restrictions on and they cannot go home, so what do they do then? It is a conundrum for a lot of students.”