Evaluation criteria for Class 12 CBSE exam to release soon
Students and their parents breathed a sigh of relief as Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the cancellation of this year’s CBSE Board exams for class XII. The decision was made on June 1 after much deliberation on the safety of students amid the ongoing threat of the Covid-19 pandemic. The decision was welcomed by everyone wholeheartedly and following CBSE’s announcement, many state education boards also cancelled their board exams. It was also decided by CBSE that the students will be marked on a new evaluation criterion now. According to media reports, the new marking scheme will be announced between June 16 and 17. However, it was slated to be submitted on 14th June.
A 13-member committee was constituted by the CBSE on June 4 for finalising the criteria of evaluation. The members of the committee included Vipin Kumar, joint secretary in the ministry of education’s department of school education, Udit Prakash, director of the Delhi government’s directorate of education (DoE), Nidhi Pandey, commissioner of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, one representative from the UGC and NCERT each, and two representatives from the schools, CBSE controller of examinations and director (academics), among others.
The Committee instructed the Board to collect data on the past year performances of the student from schools and seek expert opinions to formulate the alternative assessment method. CBSE also requested regional officers to consult with schools in their regions and seek information regarding the methods schools used for the internal assessment of students.
Earlier, the CBSE announced a similar new marking scheme for class X students. According to the scheme, students will be assessed out of a maximum of 100 marks for each subject where 20 marks are for internal assessment and 80 marks are for year-end board examinations. Both assessments will be done on the basis of marks scored in previous semesters.
Some teachers and students have already expressed reservations about the proposed evaluation method and argued that the CBSE formula for assessing Class 10 students may not be applicable for Class 12. According to a cross-section of the education, fraternity is of the opinion that this method will be unfair to meritorious high scorers. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia wrote a letter to Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal stating that percentage should be tabulated taking into account the marks scored during 10, 11 and pre-board exams.