Central Board of Secondary Education’s Exam Reforms Divide Opinions in Assam

GUWAHATI: The latest move of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to revamp its Class-XII exams from next year by setting questions that demand “analytical” and “creative” answers in all the papers, has caused mixed reactions in Assam with students seeking time to acclimatize with the new system before its actual implementation.

“It is too early to comment on the merits and demerits of the proposed new system. But students will need time to acclimatize with the system. It must not be implemented from the next year (2020) itself,” Suresh Talukdar, a student of Class-XI said.

The CBSE had issued a circular to all the school principals including those in the North East on March 6, informing them about the new exam reforms proposals. According to the circular the prime objective behind such move is to develop critical thinking, problem solving, effective communication, curiosity and imagination among students. The central board wants to do away with the prevalent practice of rote learning among students.

Under the proposed new exam system, 20 per cent of the marks in the mathematics, language, political science and legal studies papers will be set aside for internal assessment in schools. Currently, the entire 100 marks that each of these papers carries are assessed through the board exam.

Some teachers and principals have welcomed the initiatives, saying they would promote quality learning. “I am strongly opposed to the system of rote learning since it destroys students’ capability of original thinking and reasoning or analytical power,” a senior teacher at a Missionary School said.

The teacher said analytical questions will make the students to think and respond from their understanding of the concepts.

One principal, though, feared that the introduction of internal assessment in Class-XII papers may dilute the quality of assessment.

Many parents have, however, supported the CBSE’s new system with a rider. “I agree that students must clearly understand fundamental concepts of different subjects especially in Mathematics and Science. But considering the mad rush to score and the vast syllabus of CBSE, rote learning on many occasions seems to be the only practical solution for students,” Diganta Buragohain whose son will appear in the Class-XII exams in 2020, said.

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