CBSE likely to phase out Class 10th Board Examinations
Examinations, if the Central Board of Secondary Education
(CBSE) is to be believed, are surplus to school education. First, they made the
Class X Board examinations optional, and now, are keen to phase them out altogether.
As a first step in this direction, the CBSE is currently comparing and analysing
the results of the Class X school based examination with the Board exam held in
March this year.
CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi said: "At the time we made the exam optional, parents
were quite apprehensive and felt that scoring in the school-based exam will be much
easier than the Boards. But the outcome of our initial comparison is quite encouraging.
There's hardly any difference between the results of the two examinations."
If the Board, through tools of statistical analysis, can establish that there's
no difference between taking the two examinations, then it will use this analysis
to advocate for scrapping of the Board exam entirely. This analysis could take another
two months to complete. The chairman, however, did not elaborate on whether this
could be implemented for the current batch of class X students who will appear for
their final exam in March, next year.
In 2009, the Union minister for human resource development Kapil Sibal had announced
the landmark decision to make CBSE Class X Boards optional in future. The batch
of 2010-11 is the first one to benefit from this decision, which was taken to de-stress
school students.
But just as this decision was meant only for schools that are of higher secondary
level (read: up to Class XII), CBSE's plan to scrap Class X Boards will also apply
to the same category. In other words, secondary schools or schools up to Class X
will have to continue taking the Board exams.
"This plan is based on the feedback we received from the parents. They feel that
there is discrimination between students who took the school- based and Board exam
and this can only be done away with if we discontinue the dual mode and switch one
system completely," Joshi said.
"We could not have abolished the Board examination altogether because, it would
have been too much for the parents to handle. We had to give them some time to get
familiar with the change and accept it. But continuing in the dual mode puts burden
on the CBSE," a CBSE official, who did not wish to be identified, said.
So this year, almost 5.5 lakh students or 56 per cent of
the total 9.8 lakh exercised their choice of staying away from the Board conducted
examination. Once the plan to scrap Board examination completely (for
higher secondary schools) is implemented, then CBSE officials expect the percentage
of students taking school based exam to increase from 56 per cent to almost 75 per
cent of the total.
But with the Maharashtra government refusing to accept the school- based exam for
admission to its junior colleges, wouldn't this plan affect a larger number of students
adversely? "I know many school principals in other states who are under a lot of
pressure as their students are not being easily admitted in other schools affiliated
to the respective state board. If CBSE is keen to scrap Class X boards altogether,
then it has to take the state government's help before the school based results
are announced, so that students face no trouble at the time of admission," Ameeta
Wattal, principal, Springdales School, Pusa Road said.
"This is an administrative problem and will be sorted out at our end. Students need
not worry at all as we will take care of such problems even in the future," an official
said.
Courtesy: India Today
