Students of state-run schools can't listen to Modi's speech, says Partha Chatterjee

Kolkata: Students of the state-run and state-aided schools in West Bengal will not be able to take part in the “Pariksha Pe Charcha” interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as it is board examination season, state education minister Partha Chatterjee has said.

The students will not have time to listen to the prime minister’s speech since they would be busy in last minute preparations for the upcoming board examinations, Mr Chatterjee told reporters here.

“With Madhyamik (secondary) and Uchha Madhyamik (higher secondary) examinations round the corner tell me which is the first priority of a candidate?” he said on Thursday.

“It is not appropriate to make a student travel some distance to a venue to attend the video conferencing when he/she could stay at home and concentrate on his studies with just a few days to go for the exams,” Mr Chatterjee said.

In his ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ address, ahead of the Class 10 and 12 board examinations at the Talkatora Stadium in Delhi, Mr Modi on Friday stressed on the importance of confidence and concentration in dealing with exam stress.

The speech was webcast on the NIC link of Ministry of Human Resource Development.

“Today, I am a student and you are my examiner. You can give me marks out of 10 later. Don’t think of me as the prime minister, but as a friend,” Mr Modi said, responding to questions from the students gathered at the stadium as well as those who wrote in their queries and doubts.