Make exams simpler, says CM Yogi as over 10 Lakh students skip board tests in UP

A fear of exams has been created among students, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said, emphasising on the need to make examinations simpler after over 10 lakh examinees skipped the state board tests in the last four days.

The sharp dip in the figure comes in the wake of steps taken by the Uttar Pradesh government against the education mafia that aid in the use of unfair means.

“When we said let’s conduct a cheating-free exam (then) 10 lakhs students dropped out. This is the figure until now. I don’t know what will happen in future,” Adityanath said.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister was speaking at the book launch of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Exam Warrior’ in its Hindi version.

“A fear of exams is being created among students,” the chief minister said, adding the book by the prime minister will help address this aspect.

“We are observing and we will not leave it at this. It is necessary to think on how exams could be further simplified,” he said.

Also Read | Uttar Pradesh Board Examination 2018 : At least 1.8 lakh students absent on first day

The chief minister noted that exams should not be looked like as a challenge but as a part of the daily routine.

He gave an example of a kanwar yatra from Ghaziabad-Haridwar in which, he claimed, over 4 crore people took part last year.

“When I took stock of the situation, I was told that several instructions had been given to avoid any untoward incident. The officials said we have stopped the use of mikes, conches and bells,” he said.

Adityanath said he asked the officials as to why were they trying to impose a ban on the yatra.

He said the officials told him that its route was passing through sensitive areas and it was difficult to man them.

“I said permit people to use mike, conches and bells as per the Supreme Court guidelines. Inspire people so that they themselves welcome the yatra and be part of it,” Yogi said, adding that there were no disturbances during the procession.

He asserted that had the government put barriers then it would not have been easy to undertake the pilgrimage.

“So, parents and teachers should not impose any kind of barriers on students and provide them with a conducive climate to cope with exams,” he said drawing a parallel.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister claimed that nearly six lakh youths had enrolled for a skill development programme in the last 10 months.

Of these 2.5 lakh youths cleared the tests and more than 1.4 lakh got placement and were earning between Rs 15,000 to 40,000 sitting in villages.

He said that use of technology in 14,000 ration shops in the state was helping to save of Rs 35 crore a month.