17 year-old Arshia Madan who lives in East Delhi is among the lakhs of students who will appear for not one but two board exams next year. While this year's Board exams were cancelled due to the pandemic, for students of the current academic session the Board exams will be held in 2 parts. Class 10 and 12 Board exams will now comprise of first term and second term. Each term exam will be given equal weightage in the final results. There will be no overlap in the syllabus of the two terms.
While the first term exams will be held between November and December 2021, and will be held for 1.5 hours duration for objective type (MCQ based) questions, the second term exams will be held between March and April 2022 and will be two hours long. The second-term, will however, be based on the Subjective type (Descriptive) format.
The CBSE 10th and 12th syllabus will also be rationalised (or reduced). Details of the rationalised syllabus, the CBSE statement issued on Monday, July 5, said, will be released by the end of this month. Last year CBSE had reduced the syllabus by around 30 per cent.
The guidelines have brought relief for both students and parents.
Arshia said: "The 50-50 weightage helps. Because earlier everything was based on that one 3 hour long Board exam at the end of the year and if a student fared badly in it everything would be ruined. This gives greater opportunity to us. Even in one does badly in first term, he or she can try and work harder for second term. My only concern is about the entire first term exams being MCQ based. We have given MCQ exams before but not to this extent. It would be ideal if schools can give us sample papers and train us beforehand for the format."
Her mother Ritika Madan said: "This year there was uncertainty for months over whether Board exams would happen or not. That causes severe stress as Boards are very crucial for every child. These guidelines at this early stage will give clarity and will help children in being more focused."
Internal assessment will also take place throughout the year for the students of Class 10 and Class 12 and will include three periodic tests, exploratory activities and practical work.
Anju Mehrotra, Principal of Kalka Public School in Delhi said: "This is going to be a great shift from the conventional method of assessment and it is no longer going to be a 'one size fits all' kind of approach. It gives an opportunity to ponder over whether our teaching really caters to the needs of the students."
Nishi Rana, Principal of Mody School in Lakshamangarh, Rajasthan said: "It will be the best way to assess students. CBSE has said that all the internal assessments including, tests and projects will be made more reliable as per the new moderation policy that will be released soon."
CBSE has decided that if schools remain closed even during the November-December period, students will take the Term-1 exams online from home. But its weightage will be kept lesser in comparison to Term-2 Exams while declaring the final results.
