NEW DELHI: Supporting the CBSE governing body’s move to make the Class X Board exams compulsory from 2018, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday said it was discriminatory to allow seven lakh students to opt out of the board exams when nearly two crore others were taking them.
He said the HRD Ministry will take forward the recommendations made by the CBSE governing body. He said there are around two crore students across the country who complete their Class X education every year. Out of these, 1.93 crore students take the exams conducted by different boards, whereas seven lakhs opt out of it. This kind of discrimination is not proper, Javadekar said.
He said that there had been popular demand from many schools, parents and education bodies to have a system where there is board exams for all. CBSE students at present have the option to choose between Board exams and school-based exams in Class X.
The minister also said the government would not impose any language on students. “But we want people to learn more and more languages,” the minister told reporters a day after the CBSE’s governing body recommended three language formula (like Sanskrit) be continued beyond Class 8 to Class X.