The Hindu : National : Class X exams in phases?

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Saturday, Sep 17, 2005

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National

Class X exams in phases?

Lakshmi B. Ghosh

NEW DELHI: The Board exams may be here to stay but students across the country may soon be able to make their own date sheet for the much-dreaded Class X final examinations.

While rejecting the National Curriculum Framework's suggestion to make the Class X Board examinations optional, the Council of Boards of School Education in India (COBSE) has proposed that students be allowed to take the exams in a phased manner instead of being forced to appear for all subjects in one go.

"As of now students have to appear for the exams in one go and in case they fail, they take the compartment [exams] a couple of months later. All the Boards felt that the best thing would be to have an annual exam but follow it up with a second one a month or so later. Students who don't want to take all the exams in the first session can opt to take the exam for some subjects in the second month. The results would, however, be declared together,'' D. V. Sharma, general secretary of COBSE, said.

While pointing out that the idea of allowing students to clear the Board exams in two or three years was not considered manageable, Prof. Sharma said though a bit of work would be involved, the option of students deciding the dates was not insurmountable. The Boards, however, felt that making the Class X examinations an optional external test was not feasible. "The NCF proposal was shot down by the various Boards. We felt that in the current state of affairs, only a few elite schools may be able to take advantage of such a situation. But the need for more flexibility was felt and so the suggestion regarding the dates was made,'' Prof. Sharma said.

Another important proposal made by the Council was regarding the curriculum load. Identifying the three-language system — currently compulsory — as something that placed pressure on students, the Boards suggested that this could be replaced by a two-language system with the third language being an optional. It was felt that students from north India did not give importance to languages of the south. The option of a third language would ensure that only students interested in learning the language would take it up.

With the implementation of environment education in schools being seen as the need of the day, especially following an order by the Supreme Court making it a mandatory subject in schools, the Board took it up for discussion at the meeting.

The Boards felt introducing environment as a separate subject might increase the students' burden and suggested its incorporation into social studies and other subjects. But the Council noted that since the order had come from the Supreme Court, the issue would be discussed with the NCERT on Saturday.

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