Class 12 students and their parents gathered for a virtual session organized by India's Ministry of Education were in for a pleasant surprise when Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined the session in an impromptu move on Thursday. Joining the session, he said: “Hope I did not disturb your online meeting” to the surprised student who broke into smiles seeing the prime minister amidst them.

Going with the spirit of the moment, Modi noted the lifting of exam pressure and shared light moments with relieved students. He put students at ease by sharing personal anecdotes. When a student from Panchkula spoke about the ongoing tension of exams for the last so many days, Modi asked him about the sector of his residence and informed him that he too stayed in the locality for a very long time.

Children opened up with the prime minister and shared their concerns and views freely. A student from Solan, Himachal Pradesh thanked the PM for cancelling the exams in the midst of the pandemic and hailed it as a good decision. One of the students lamented that some people are not following the COVID protocols of wearing masks, maintaining social distance, etc. She also elaborated on the awareness activities organized by her in her locality.

There was a clear relief among the student as they were worried about the danger of the pandemic, most of them thanked Modi for the decision to cancel the exams.

Parents also took the decision very positively. In the spirit of the open and healthy discussion, when Modi called on the parents to join the interaction.

When Modi asked about the sudden vacuum after exams were cancelled a student replied "Sir, you have said that exams should be celebrated as a festival. So, there was no fear in my mind for examinations."

A student from Guwahati gave credit to Modi’s book ‘Exam Warriors’ which she was reading since class 10th. Students also mentioned yoga as a big help in coping with uncertain times.

The interaction was spontaneous and the PM Modi had to devise a way of organizing it. He asked all the student to write their identification number on a piece of paper so that he could call and coordinate the interaction.

Enthusiastic students followed the system happily.  Modi had to direct the discussion away from the exam cancellation decision in order to expand the topics of the discussion.

Students and parents responded with wide-ranging things from dance, youtube music channels, exercise and politics. Modi asked them to research and write an essay on India's 75 years of Independence specially with reference to their areas (SAM)