After a 5-year hiatus, the 10th Standard board exams have finally returned in the CBSE cycle. Yes, you read it right. The Central Board of Secondary education, New Delhi on 14th November 2016 announced that 10th standard board exams conducted by the board will be compulsory from 2018 onwards. Apart from the reintroduction of the 10th board exams, the ministry has also decided to introduce the 3-language policy till 10th.
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The Previous System
In the past five years, the exam was optional i.e. students had the choice of taking either the board exam or appear for CCE. Under the CCE or Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation system, a year-round evaluation system was followed, making board exams optional for students. The system was introduced by then HRD minister Kapil Sibal under the Congress-led government to reduce pressure on students.
Problems with CCE
According to many sources, most schools were not implementing the CCE system correctly. Headmasters/Principals of various institutes felt the need of reintroducing the 10th board system as a solution to this debacle. The major problem with the CCE system, according to principals, was the need of skilled teachers to implement the system.
“The system was designed to identify extra meritorious students among the crowd but, you need skilled teachers too for the task, ” told one of the headmasters.
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Three- Language Policy
Apart from the reintroduction part, the HRD ministry has also decided to add the 3-language policy to the system. Under this policy, students now will have to study a third language along with Hindi and English. It doesn’t end here. The board has laid a strict emphasis on the fact that this third language must be an Indian language only. Foreign languages such as French, German etc will now be considered as the fourth language and will be elective.
Many of the schools teaching foreign languages have stood against the decision. According to these schools, studying an Indian language in such era of globalization would not contribute to the growth of students. However, even after the huge criticism board has shown a strict stand on its 3-language policy.
Reintroduction of 10th Board: Good or Bad
The reintroduction of 10th board exam has largely been met with positive opinions from the stakeholders across the country. As per the student community, the 10th board represents a great platform in familiarizing the board exam system. This helps students to lower the burden of appearing in 12th board exams which are crucial in deciding future prospects. The opinion has also been voiced in the same manner by parents and schools across the nation.
However, there seems to be a certain chunk of society which disagrees with the changes made. Many believe that reintroduction of 10th board will mark the return of rote learning and mug up.
Also, after 6 years the teachers were now actually able to understand the system better and had adapted to it. But the reintroduction of the old system has resulted in their time being wasted.
Currently, almost 18,000 schools are affiliated to the Central board of which 13,000 schools are private. The move has created a small pandemonium in this huge sea.
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