CBSE Governing body approves Return of Board-based Class X Exams from 2018

The Governing Body, the highest decision making body of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), has approved the restoring of the board-based Class X exams+ on Tuesday, paving the way for return of the public exam at the end of the secondary education after seven years. The first exam will be conducted in March 2018. It has been decided that the weightage division will be 80% will be Board-based and 20% will be internal assessments.

Since 2011, after the introduction of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) in 2009, the Board made the Class X board exam optional, which means students studying in senior secondary schools had the option to sit for the school-based exam. CBSE conducted a survey among various stakeholders and the majority were in favour of the compulsory Class X public exam. Thereafter, the ministry of human resource development announced the rollback of the optional scheme of the present Class X exam system.

“It was a unanimous decision of the members of the GB on the matter. The matter was discussed threadbare and in principle it was decided to restore the exams scheme of pre-CCE period. A circular to the effect on details of the exams which will commence from 2018 will be shared with the schools soon. It will be 80% weightage for the Board based exam and 20% will be drawn from internal assessments,” said R K Chaturvedi, chairperson, CBSE.

“The members welcome the decision and it was unanimous as there has been a feedback from all stakeholders+ , including state governments about the need to restore the exams,” said Jyoti Arora, member of the GB, CBSE and principal of Mount Abu Public School.

The present batch of CBSE class X students will continue as per the current format where both the school-based and board-based options will be open.

Source: TOI