The Central Board of Secondary Education might be considering reviving the Class 10 board examinations from 2018. CBSE Chairperson Rajesh Chaturvedi on Wednesday told the Hindustan Times that growing public opinion in its favour has forced them to consider the major change. The CBSE had made class 10 board exams optional for students and instead introduced the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation system under the 2009 Right to Education Act.
Chaturvedi said “We will not be able to do it in 2017 as time is short but we will certainly like to go ahead with it from 2018 as it has become important in the context of improving quality,” said Chaturvedi. He also claimed students should learn to “write descriptive answers” and not just be adjudged on the basis of multiple choice questions, as they are now. He added that they will take up the matter with the Ministry of Human Resource Development during the next education ministers’ conference.
The demand to reintroduce the board examination came up in 2014 when Smriti Irani, who was the Union HRD Minister at that time, had sought students’ opinion on the new CCE system.
Apart from making the board examination optional, the CCE system also did away with marks. It introduced a grading system and clubbed students within a range of 10% in grades. This meant a student with 89 would get the same grade as one who scored 81. Several students and teachers deemed this unfair. According to the CCE system, class 10 students need to appear for six exams, including four formative assessments and two summative assessments. The state boards, however, continued with the traditional board examination.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!