COBSE to discuss common question paper design

It has worked out a design for Class XI across boards

The Council of Boards of School Education in India (COBSE) will soon discuss a proposal to have a common question paper design across all boards of school education in the country.

The objective is to introduce a common marking system for students in various streams and reduce the possible errors emerging during the normalisation of marks in the preparation of rank list of various professional examinations.

Confirming that COBSE’s next meeting will discuss a common question paper design for Class XI examinations of all boards in the country, Vineet Joshi, Chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), said here on Friday that such a pattern would address the complaints related to normalisation to some extent.

“By doing all this [common design], we will minimise the errors possible in normalisation. If at least the design is same, just an idea, at least there is a scope of similar type of marking,” he said.

COBSE, a voluntary association of all boards of school education, had worked out a common question paper design for Class XI, Mr. Joshi said. There was a huge variation as of now in the question papers of various boards.

“Some States are having completely objective type questions; some completely [on the] subjective side. And there are other States in the middle of the spectrum. So if at least the design is same, let’s say 10 per cent [questions] are long answer type, 10 per cent are multiple type, I am just giving an idea. This is not the way design has been prepared,” he said.

Accreditation

Mr. Joshi said approximately 10 per cent of CBSE schools in Kerala had applied for its School Quality Assessment and Accreditation (SQAA) scheme. An estimated 1, 500 schools across the country had applied for accreditation. “We have given them a window of three years to get accredited,” he said.

Referring to complaints that a section of schools in the State were still paying low salaries to teachers, Mr. Joshi said managements had to give the minimum salary fixed by the Kerala High Court. “We will definitely take action, if some schools are not complying,” he said.

He made it clear that the State concerned had a say in the matters of CBSE schools, especially after the implementation of the Right to Education Act. “But the State, the CBSE, and the school managements have to work for the students and not see each other as an adversary,” he said.