New Delhi: Board exams for Class X will become compulsory for all CBSE students from 2018. The CBSE’s governing body “unanimously approved” a proposal in this regard at its meeting here on Tuesday.
The members agreed that from the academic session 2017-18, compulsory board exams should be introduced for all students of Class X, sources said.
The decision will have to be approved by the Union Government before it is implemented. Currently, it is optional for CBSE students to choose either the board exam or a school-based examination.
HRD minister Prakash Javadekar had in the past favoured making board exam compulsory for CBSE students as is the practice in all state boards. There is a view that, for the Class X Board exams, 80 per cent weightage can be given to the marks scored in examinations and 20 per cent weightage for school-based evaluation, the sources said.
In another key decision, the CBSE decided to recommend to the HRD ministry that the three-language formula, under which Hindi, English and an Indian language are taught, should be extended to Class IX and X as well from the current VI to VIII.
Officials said the board also favoured sending a recommendation to the Centre that the languages listed in Schedule VIII of the Constitution should be taught under the ‘Three language formula’, while languages which are “purely foreign” should be taught as a “fourth language as an elective subject”.
In the past, the HRD ministry-run Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV) used to offer German as a third language, but the practice was later discontinued. The final call on these decisions will be taken by the government, a senior official said.
