Pariksha Pe Charcha: Focus on your child's strength, PM Modi tells parents

New Delhi, Apr 07: Prime Minister Narendra Modi told students on Wednesday not to fear exams but to see them as a test to improve themselves, and said social and family environment at times create pressure around students that is not desirable.

Interacting with students virtually in his annual ''Parikasha Pe Charcha'' programme, he said they sometime become over conscious regarding exams and asked them to take them as a small destination in their long lives.

"While we can say that students have lost a year of their lives due to COVID-19, but due to the pandemic, they have also learned a lot of lessons. They have learned the true value of many essential things.

"The pandemic has taught us to fight the unexpected. People have realised the importance of not taking anything for granted like regular school days, attending office. Though COVID-19 forced us to maintain social distancing but it strengthened families'' emotional bonding," Modi said.

"We have lost much during the pandemic but we have also gained a lot. The biggest lesson that corona has taught is that the things and people you missed during the period, have such an important role in your life. Those activities and people you had assumed as part of a routine, you realised their importance," he added.

Schools across the country closed in March last year ahead of a nationwide lockdown to contain spread of novel coronavirus. The prolonged closure prompted the shift of teaching learning activities to online mediums.

While several states began partially reopening schools in October last year, the physical classes are again being suspended in the wake of fresh surge in cases.

The board exams for class 10 and 12 which are usually held in February-March are scheduled to be held in May-June this year.

This is the first time that the prime minister''s interaction with the students was conducted virtually.