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CBSE To Revive Examinations For Students Of Class X From 2018

The chairman of the board announced a slew of related reforms.
School students in Munnar, Kerala.
Christer Fredriksson
School students in Munnar, Kerala.

The chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Rajesh Chaturvedi, announced a change in its education system yesterday. Speaking in Patna, he said the system of evaluation through examinations, which was made optional by the board, will be reintroduced for students of Class X from the academic year 2018, Hindustan Times reported.

"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. In any case, the state boards are continuing with the board exams," he said. Chaturvedi also emphasised the need to make students write descriptive answers instead of only having to deal with multiple-choice questions.

Under the 2009 Right to Education Act, CBSE introduced a Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system and sought to lighten the burden of writing stressful examinations. As per this system, Class X students need to appear for six examinations only — four formative assessments and two summative assessments. The state boards, however, continued with the traditional board examinations.

CBSE also replaced the system of awarding marks with that of grades, a move that was greeted with scepticism by many students and teachers as the grading system does not make any distinction between, say, a student who scores 89 and one who gets 81.

Chaturvedi also observed the need to establish a set of rules for the recruitment of teachers. "At present, appointments are made as per suitability and convenience. We are working on it, but the need for a uniform mechanism is felt now," he told Hindustan Times.

CBSE also plans to train secondary and higher secondary teachers in a more focused way. "We will rope in experts like Anand Kumar of Super 30 for the purpose," Chaturvedi said, highlighting the board's quest to get rid of schools which do not meet basic standards of teaching.

In another recent reform, CBSE has sent out a directive to schools under it to not set any homework to students of Classes I and II or to expect them to carry schoolbag to school. The move is inspired as much by ergonomic reasons, as more and more children suffer from weariness and backache burdened by heavy schoolbags, as also to encourage new modes of pedagogy in schools and at home.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.