Class X exam may become optional in states

Buoyed with the success of the provision of optional board examination in Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools, the Centre now wants it to be replicated by the states in their school education system.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has set up a committee to explore if class X board examination can also be made optional and a grading system can be introduced in its place in the schools functioning under state education boards, ministry sources told Deccan Herald. The panel has also been asked to suggest ways to improve the system for the assessment and evaluation of students of state boards. The panel, which is likely to have its first meeting in November, is to be headed by the CBSE Chairman Vineet Joshi, who is also the president of the Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE). The members of the committee will include COBSE secretary-general D V Sharma, representatives from the National Council of Educational Research and Training, the HRD ministry and the National Institute of Open Schooling and chairpersons of the secondary education boards of nearly a dozen states. “The move has been initiated by the ministry following the success of the CBSE’s Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation system introduced in its schools as a substitute for board exams,” sources said. The CBSE has introduced Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system from 2011. The board has also replaced the marks system with grades in class X in order to reduce the pressure of examination among the children. Under the CCE, students are assessed throughout the academic session through their performance in project works and assignments. Based on the performance, students are awarded grades. About 90 per cent of the CBSE students chose not to take the class X board exam from 2011. “The decision of the CBSE to make the class X board examination optional has been well received by the parents and students. If replicated by the state education boards too, this will certainly come as a great relief for the school students there who suffer immense pressure of examination,” sources said. For uniformity in course curricula, the COBSE and the NCERT have already developed a common syllabi in science and commerce and most of the state boards have agreed to follow them. Set up in 1979, the COBSE is a voluntary association of which all the 42 state school education boards are members. The Council’s mandate is to provide academic support to its member boards on setting and maintaining educational standards, curriculum planning, developing curriculum material and evaluation with an objective to improve the quality of school education.