CBSE to Go Back to Single Board Exam From Next Academic Year

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From the next academic year, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to restore the single-exam format that was followed before the pandemic.

This means that the board exams for Class X and XII will not be split into two parts.

"CBSE never announced that the two-term exam format will be continued henceforth. It was a one-time formula. Now that schools are functioning in full capacity, the decision, for now, is to stick to the one-time exam format," according to a senior official in the Ministry of Education, reported the Indian Express.

Additionally, an anonymous official told the Hindustan Times that "even as the NEP 2020 favours two-term exams, it has been decided to switch to the previous practice for now and conduct one set of board exams at the end of the academic year. The stakeholders also suggested one exam policy."

The policy change was welcomed by principals and students of schools following the CBSE system.

"Examination is a big exercise not only for students, but also for schools, and teachers. Conducting two sets of examinations is very challenging as Schools have to stop all other activities at the time of board examination. It is a big relief that the CBSE is going back to the previous exercise of the end-term examination now," said Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu Public School in Rohini, reported by the Hindustan Times.

"We can’t just keep on giving exams. Now we will be able to focus on only one set of exams and the college entrance exam," Shambhavi Singh, a class 12 student at Delhi government School in Kalkaji said while talking to Hindustan Times.

The board is yet to decide for the 2021-22 batch of students, the weightage that will be given to the first term's and second term's exams.

"The board has received a large number of representations from schools requesting that more weightage be given to the second term exams. It is examining the representations to make a decision regarding the weightage," the anonymous official added while speaking to Hindustan Times.

The CBSE, however, will stick to the syllabus policy that it has followed over the last two years, that is, keeping the syllabus reduced by 30 percent.

(With inputs from The Indian Express and the Hindustan Times)