NEW DELHI: The governing body of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Tuesday approved restoring of the Class X board-based examinations from the next academic session, 2017-18, for which the examinations would be conducted in March 2018, after a gap of seven years.
The weightage of division of marks will be 80 per cent for the Board-based examinations and 20 per cent will be through internal assessments.
The CBSE’s governing body also recommended that the three language formula be continued till Class X board examinations. This would mean that students studying Sanskrit currently till Class 8th will have to continue the subject for another two years till Class X board examinations.
Additionally `languages that are purely foreign’ should be taught and made an elective subject, the CBSE’s governing body, a decision making body has further recommended.
It may be mentioned here that the Board has stuck to the controversial move made by former Union HRD minister and now Union textile minister, Smriti Irani who had stripped German language from Central Schools.
These recommendations are not binding and the government will take a final call on it.
Union HRD minister has on various forums has aired government’s intention to restart Class X CBSE board examinations from the next academic session.
However, the students currently in class X examinations will continue as per the current format where both the school-based and board-based options will be open.
Emerging out of the board meeting said R K Chaturvedi, chairperson, CBSE said it has been unanimously decided by the members of the governing body to make it mandatory for all to take board examinations for Class X.
The CBSE board examinations for Class X was scrapped in 2010 and students had an option to opt for school examinations from 2011. This was done under the current Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) meant to reduce pressure of board examinations on students.
After wider criticism over students not taking their studies seriously and that lack of board examinations was poorly reflecting the quality of education, the CBSE conducted a survey among various stakeholders and the majority were in favour of the compulsory Class X public examinations.
Thereafter, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MoHRD) announced the rollback of the optional scheme of the present Class X examination system in October this year.