Good news for school students. Kids have been gearing up for their 10th and 12th board exams all year, but it looks like they might soon have to take these exams twice a year. The Union Education Ministry has announced that the CBSE exams for these grades will be held biannually. Recently, there was a significant meeting led by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to discuss the preparations for this change.
The meeting included the Secretary of School Education, the CBSE Chairman, and other officials from both the Ministry and CBSE. They had in-depth talks about how to implement the twice-a-year exam schedule, and soon, the draft from these discussions will be shared for public feedback by CBSE.
Minister Pradhan mentioned on Tuesday that creating a stress-free atmosphere for students is a top priority for the government. Reforming the examination process is a crucial part of this effort. The discussions about holding CBSE exams twice a year are a step forward in this direction.
Once everything is finalized, 10th and 12th graders will have the option to take their board exams twice a year. However, it won’t be mandatory; students can choose to take the exams once or twice based on what works best for them.
There will be a set gap of a few months between the two exams. Just like the JEE Main exams happen twice a year, the 10th and 12th board exams will also be held twice annually. Students who take the first exam and feel they didn’t do well can sit for the second exam in the same academic year. This means that those who didn’t score as high as they wanted in the first round will have another chance to improve their results. The Ministry of Education has stated that this approach is entirely based on choice.
Additionally, there have been some changes to the board exam format. The CBSE exams will now include more analytical and concept-based questions. Experts note that while the types of questions in MCQs and short answers will stay similar, about 50% of the questions will now be MCQs or worth one to two marks. The Union Education Ministry emphasizes that the goal of these board exams is to assess students’ understanding of the subjects.
Experts think this new approach will lessen the reliance on coaching and rote memorization. The Union Education Ministry also mentioned that several other significant changes have been introduced in the school education system. One of these changes is that students in 11th and 12th grade will have more freedom in choosing their subjects. They’ll be able to select the subjects they prefer during these two years.