Twitter has been abuzz with the hashtag #EducationMinisterGoesLive for the past few days as Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal announced that he will conduct an online live interaction with students and parents across the country to discuss details of the upcoming CBSE board exams and other competitive exams like JEE and NEET. The live session will now be conducted on December 10 instead of the earlier date December 3, he announced in a tweet on Monday.

Students have been encouraged to share their feedback and queries about these topics via Twitter using the hashtag #EducationMinisterGoesLive. On Monday, the minister wrote: "Students, we know you have tons of questions related to upcoming competitive/board exams! In order to make sure that we cover most of your concerns, we have decided to extend the date of the webinar to Dec 10. Till then keep sharing your concerns using #EducationMinisterGoesLive!"

Concerns have been pouring in since then with students asking the government to not conduct physical exams this year. A few students have also raised concerns about internet connectivity and access, no electricity in remote areas. Some have spoken about their mental health issues due to the unprecedented lockdown and the pandemic wreaking havoc in everyone's lives. Thus, the #EducationMinisterGoesLive webinar is one of the most eagerly awaited webinars to be held by the Education Minister in recent times. With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing schools to remain closed for this entire year; students and parents have been worried sick.

Earlier, Pokhriyal had also stated that the competitive and board exams would be conducted in 2010-21 only after proper consultation with students, teachers and parents. Schools in India have been closed since March. Though the government gave the go-ahead to state governments to decide when to reopen schools from October 15 onwards, many states including Tamil Nadu have chosen to keep schools closed.