Following the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) unanimous approval of the proposal to make the board exam compulsory for class X students from 2018, a change is expected in the assessment system for middle school and higher classes.
From 2009, students across CBSE schools in the country had been given the option of either writing a school-conducted board examination at the end of class X or a board-conducted one.
In Chennai, a majority of students had opted to write the board-conducted examination. Of the 38,529 students from Tamil Nadu who had registered to take up the Class X board examinations in 2016, only 6,227 opted for school-conducted examinations which showed a clear tilt in favour of the board-conducted examination.
While the proposal for the governing body is yet to be approved by the government, HRD Minister Prakash Javedekar, had earlier voiced his support for making the class X boards compulsory for CBSE students.
Ajeeth Prasad Jain, senior principal, Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyashram and a member of the CBSE governing body said that there was a proposed overhaul of the current Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system followed for assessment as well.
At present, the students take up four Formative Assessments (FAs) which comprise written tests and classroom activities as well as two Summative Assessment examinations which are conducted in September and March during the academic year.
Exam pattern
“While there will be a final examination for 80 marks, the rest of the 20 marks comprise 10 marks for three tests to be conducted through the year, 5 marks for notebook submission and 5 marks for subject related activities,” Mr. Ajeeth explained.
Speaking about the proposal of the governing body to bring back the compulsory board examinations, he said a majority of the principals had been in its favour.
The governing body has also proposed a three-language system.
At present, students learn a third language in a few schools only till class VIII.
A principal of a city school said the possibility of implementing a three-language system for classes IX and X would be a welcome one.
“At present, all students learn English as the first language and have Tamil as the second language following the implementation of the Tamil Language Learning Act 2006 in the State. This will mean that they can learn an additional language for a few more years which will make them more proficient in it,” she said.
