Education will be made less exam-centric: Sibal

THE UNION GOVERNMENT plans to make education less focused on examinations so as to relieve the burden on students and unlock the creative talent in children. According to Union Minister for Human Resource Development, the government was determined to eliminate the examination-oriented system of education that forced students to cram up. More emphasis would be laid on developing skills and creativity, he said. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of noted mathematician Srinivas Ramanujan’s 125 birth anniversary celebrations in Chennai, Mr. Sibal said that the effort was to promote freedom, creativity, joy and awareness of the country’s great cultural heritage. Some steps to make education more child-centric had already been taken, and one of them was the introduction of the Comprehensive and Continuous Evaluation (CCE), he pointed out. Education ought to be expanded around a clear understanding of history, needs, culture, competencies and endowments of India, he asserted. The government; business, academia, citizens and civil society should work in tandem to make education an agent of social change, empowerment and inclusive development, he said.