CBSE 2-board exams: ‘Expecting around 40% of students to appear in Class 10 second board exam,’ says Chairman

Pointing out that the second exam will have a reduced evaluation load on teachers compared to the first, Singh said: “In the first board exam in class 10, the total number of answer books which are evaluated comes to around 1.5 crore…a bit more than that. We don’t expect the evaluation load for the second board exam to be more than 20-30 lakh. So, we also hope that we will be able to complete evaluations quicker and be able to deliver the results for the second board exam in time. Our deadline is June 30…to close the entire cycle.”

The Board had announced earlier this year that students will have to mandatorily appear for the first set of exams, and can then choose to improve their performance in three subjects (out of math, science, social science, and two language papers) in the second set of exams.

Offering two board exams to students is a recommendation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, and is intended to “eliminate the high-stakes nature” of these exams. The NEP suggested possibilities including giving students the option of taking the exams on two occasions during a school year, and a system of semester exams.

“Two board exams is a policy obligation which all of us have to fulfill together. It was not an easy decision, or an easy scheme to devise…not the least because the NEP and the NCF (national curriculum framework) itself talk about three options. We had to weigh all three policy options,” Singh said.

Explaining reasons for the CBSE not having chosen the other possibilities that the NEP suggested, Singh said: “One was introducing a semester system. Already, we are assessing only class 10 and class 12 syllabus in the term-end board exams. A semester system would have reduced the curricular load and what is to be externally assessed. More importantly, we felt that holding full-fledged semester-based exams would overload the teachers unduly. They might not be able to cope up with the pressures of evaluation. Schools may not be able to cope-up with the pressures of invigilation and conduct of examination. It’s also going to put a strain on the controller’s resources.”

He added: “Another option which was talked about was the concept of any-time examinations…the board exams can be held anytime the child is ready. For that we require a huge…robust set of resources which can be drawn upon. We also need to trust our invigilation and proctoring mechanisms, which would entail lots and lots of effort. We also felt that those systems may not work towards reducing the stress that children face. That left us with the third option, which was elucidated in the NEP as…the first exam would be the main examination, and the second for improvement, if the students so desire. We have kept that as the pervading philosophy of this scheme of the second board exams.”

He explained that the Board decided that it won’t offer the second board exam in all subjects, but only in those subjects where the external assessment component is more than 50.

“We also didn’t want to dilute the premise that the first board exam is the main exam. We don’t want to encourage opportunity shopping. We shouldn’t create a system where the child can choose three subjects to appear in the first exam (and) three subjects to appear in the second exam. That would defeat the purpose of the entire thought. The first is the main exam, and the child has to demonstrate seriousness in approaching the first exam. Students who haven’t appeared in three or more subjects in the first board exam won’t be allowed to appear in the second board exam,” Singh said.

After the results of the first exam are declared, students will be able to register for the second exam, and the Board will then finalise the list of candidates.