The government has decided to reduce the number of exam papers for Class 10 from 11 to nine from the forthcoming academic year. The assessment system has also been tweaked, with 20 marks being allotted for internal assessment and 80 marks for the main examinations.
Orders issued on Wednesday said languages like Telugu, English, Hindi and Urdu will have only one paper, while subjects like Science, Social Studies and Mathematics will have two papers each.
Paper-I for Science will comprise Biology, and Paper-II will deal with the physical sciences – Physics and Chemistry. Similarly, Social Studies Paper-I will have Geography and Economics, and Paper-II will feature History and Civics. The total marks will be 600, of which 480 will come from the final exams, and 120 through internal assessment.
The average of four formative assessments conducted in an academic year will account for 20 per cent of the marks. For these 20 marks, students will be assessed through activities like reading story books, children’s literature and newspapers, presentation in the classroom, experiments, reading texts and interpreting them, as well as reflections on contemporary social issues. Five marks each would be given for classroom presentation, self-expression, project works and slip test.
Language papers will be of three hours duration apart from the 15 minutes provided for reading the question paper. Each non-language subject would be for 50 marks, and each exam would last two-and-a-half hours, in addition to the 15 minutes provided for reading the question paper.
To qualify, students must secure 35 per cent marks in all the language and non-language subjects, and qualify both in internals and annual examinations separately.
