Exams 1, 2 and 3: With new reform, Karnataka to bring flexibility in examination system from this year

Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB) — that conducts board examinations — will soon issue a government order in this regard. The board this year had already introduced a second supplementary examination for PU students, wherein a whopping 1,21,179 students registered.

Tentative schedule for exams.

As per the tentative schedule announced by the board, for class 12, exam 1 will be conducted between March 1 and 25; exam 2 between May 15 and June 5; exam 3 on July 12 and 30. For class 10, exam 1 is tentatively scheduled between March 30 and April 15; exam 2 between June 12 and 18 and exam 3 between July 29 and August 5.

In the present examination system, the board is conducting one annual examination and one supplementary examination is being conducted for students. “This examination system is creating more stress and anxiety in students. Due to this, the students’ knowledge retention, meaningful learning and academic progress are being hampered,” said Ritesh Kumar Singh, principal secretary of the school education department.

As per the existing examination norms, if a student who has passed the second PU examination is not satisfied with the marks obtained in any subject, there is an option to reject the marks obtained in that subject in the annual examination and take up the examination once again. However, the marks obtained in the supplementary examination are only considered as the final marks of the student without considering the marks obtained in the previous examination.

The new reform aims to do away with this measure, allowing students an opportunity to improve their score by retaining the best marks scored in the first, second and third examinations and provide better opportunities in the selection process for further study or employment.

Through the new system, the department also aims to help students adapt to their learning pace and reduce the stress caused by time constraints. Also, the board wants to replace ‘Supplementary Examination’ with the system of ‘Annual Examination 1, 2, and 3’, thus giving three opportunities to the students to promote their overall performance and positive attitude.

The department in a press release on Tuesday stated that the annual examinations will be conducted by the board by considering various factors. “The uniformity in content and difficulty level will be maintained in the question papers in these three examinations. Students will be given an opportunity subject-wise to choose the best score among the marks obtained in these three attempts. The students who join their next academic course late shall be provided with a ‘bridge course’, be it I PUC or at the degree colleges, in order to make up for the missed classes in the initial month.”

Ramachandran R, chairman of KSEAB said, “Regular fresh candidates have to mandatorily sit for the main exam. If they are not satisfied with the results, they can make their attempt in exam 2 or 3. However, repeaters have the flexibility to write either exams 1, 2 or 3. The reason is we don’t want to nurture procrastination among regular fresh candidates by allowing them to take either of the three exams. The idea is to give them an opportunity to better their scores and not to skip the opportunity.”