By the time students of class X and XII appear for the board examinations this year, they will be all-too-familiar with the pattern. Students studying in schools not affiliated to CBSE or ICSE will have to write a common exam for the quarterly and half-yearly tests, too, this year, the school education department said.
The department of government examination will set the common question paper. Until last year, this system was followed in government and government-aided schools at the district-level.
This year it will be carried out at the state-level with schools across the State having a common question paper for the three exams. The official said that the idea was to acquaint students with the system earlier in the year so that they get over the fear of writing the board exam.
A senior official at the Directorate of School Education said the system was in its preliminary stages, and details such as the system to be followed for correction, among other things, were being formulated.
While principals of government schools said their students were used to common question paper for quarterlies and half-yearlies, heads of private schools expressed mixed feelings.
A principal of a matriculation school in Chitlapakkam said she wasn’t very excited about the move and was yet to receive a communication from the government in this regard. Common question papers, she said, may dilute the standard.
Keywords: school education, board examination
