NEW DELHI: The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) draft released on Thursday proposes board exams for Class 10 and 12 twice a year and to scrap arts, science, and humanities streams for higher secondary students.
Based on the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the curriculum will change the basic structure of school education as it also proposes no exams for lower classes.
"The overarching objective of the NCF is to help in positively transforming the school education system of India as envisioned in the NEP 2020 through corresponding positive changes in the curriculum, including pedagogy," said the draft framework.
The draft said that the two board exams would give time to students to prepare, and the test papers would be based on suitable software.
The subjects will be divided into eight curricular areas: Mathematics, humanities, computing, vocation education, physical education, arts, social science and science.
The recommendation drafted by a 12-member steering committee under former chairperson ISRO K Kasturirangan says that the structure for classes 9 and 10 will significantly change as students will be expected to clear eight papers.
The class 11 and 12 students may opt for any three curricular areas, which will be divided into four courses per discipline.
"Summative assessments can be designed using case-based questions, simulations, and essay-type questions to enable assessment of competencies. At this stage, students should also be prepared to undertake the Board examinations and other selection tests to gain access to higher education and livelihood opportunities," said the draft about class 9 and 11 students.
It also suggested that students should have the option to quit school after Class 10 and pursue vocational education in Grades 11 and 12 if they wish to.
“In particular, students would continue to have the option of exiting after Grade 10 and re-entering in the next phase to pursue vocational or any other courses available in Grades 11-12, including at a more specialised school if so desired,” the document said.
There will be no written test from pre-school to class 2. "Formative assessments are continuous and ongoing," said the draft. The new system proposes an all-around assessment of children.
The draft said that a child’s progress card will be a “holistic, 360-degree, multidimensional report that reflects in great detail the progress as well as the uniqueness of each learner in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains,” the NCF draft said.
During Covid, CBSE held board exams twice in the academic year 2020-21 but later reverted to the old system, saying it was a temporary measure taken during the pandemic.