Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said students will get an option of appearing for 10th and 12th class board examinations twice a year from the academic session 2025-26.

One of the objectives of the new National Education Policy (NEP), unveiled in 2020, is to reduce the academic stress on students, Pradhan said on Monday after launching the PM SHRI (Prime Minister Schools for Rising India) scheme in Chhattisgarh under which 211 schools of the state will be upgraded.

The function was held at the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay auditorium in Raipur.

Highlighting the concept of introducing 10 bag-less days in school every year, the minister stressed on engaging students with art, culture and sports, among other activities.

On the Centre's plan under the NEP 2020, Pradhan said from the 2025-26 academic session, students will get an opportunity to appear for the 10th and 12th class board exams twice.

According to the New Curriculum Framework (NCF) announced by the Ministry of Education in August last year, board examinations will be held at least twice a year to ensure students have enough time and opportunity to perform well. They will also get the option to retain the best score.

Pradhan asked students present at the function if they were happy with the decision, and told them to keep the best marks obtained after appearing in both the exams.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji's vision through the NEP is to keep students stress-free, enrich them with quality education, keep students linked with culture and prepare them for the future. This is the formula for making India a developed country by 2047," he said.

Pradhan slammed the previous Congress government in the state, saying education was not its priority, but the key sector has received utmost importance after the BJP came to power and new Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai assumed office in December last year.

In the first phase of the PM SHRI scheme, 211 schools (193 elementary level and 18 secondary ones) will be upgraded in Chhattisgarh on a 'hub and spoke' model by spending Rs 2 crore on each of them, the Union minister said.

Under the model, the mentor institution, called the 'hub', will be centralised and have the responsibility of guiding the mentee institution through the secondary branches, the 'spoke', via services provided to the mentee for self-improvement.

As per a request made by Chhattisgarh's School and Higher Education Minister Brijmohan Agrawal, more secondary and higher secondary schools will be covered under the scheme in its next phase, Pradhan said.

He said India will bid to host the 2036 Olympics Games and he expects that 10 per cent of medals for the country in the quadrennial event should come from Chhattisgarh athletes and preparations for it should start from this year itself.

Chief Minister Sai, minister Agrawal and other senior officials were present at the function.

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