The Hindu : Front Page : Winds of change and much more for Class X

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 21, 2005

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Winds of change and much more for Class X

Lakshmi B. Ghosh

FUTURE ONLINE: CBSE Chairman Ashok Ganguly. - PHOTO: M. MOORTHY

NEW DELHI: The Class X examinations conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) all over India and abroad every year are all set for an overhaul now with the focus likely to shift from theory to practical from the next academic year.

Describing it as an attempt to strengthen the "practical experience'' of school children, CBSE Chairman Ashok Ganguly on Tuesday said that apart from bringing about changes in the science syllabus, the Board had decided also to enhance the weightage given to practical examinations from 25 marks to 40 from the upcoming academic year 2006-07.

The theory paper will now be of 60 marks and not 75 marks as at present.

In the case of the science practical examinations, 20 marks will be reserved for internal assessment and the rest for the theory examination. To be of 90-minute duration, the theory part of the practical examination will have 30 questions divided into two parts: Part A and Part B.

While the Board has already introduced practicals for mathematics at the Class X level, it now plans to do so for languages as well by testing the communication ability of the students.

The CBSE Chairman is expected to announce the far-reaching changes in the Class X examination format at a press conference here on Wednesday. The changes follow a meeting of the Council of Boards of School Education in India held here in the Capital this past week.

The Council meeting among other things had seen representatives of over 40 school Boards decide on introduction of grading from the year 2008. One of the other important proposals put forward at the meeting had been to give internal assessment greater weight in the examinations, including a 20 per cent focus on internal assessment in all subjects.

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