You may have loved it or hated it, but you can’t ignore it any longer: the CBSE Class 10 board exams will be back from 2018. The board approved the proposal to revive the test, and there’s no reason why the government wouldn’t accept it. There’s much to be said on both sides of the argument, but in matters like these it’s best that experts decide what’s best for students. We had five years of the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system under RTE without it making any visible impact on student performance. To go back and give students a kind of preparatory test under strict conditions for them to face the crucial Class 12 exams two years later isn’t an unwelcome initiative.
The Class 10 exam offers a credible way to assess a student, while giving him/her a chance to test against peers. The atmosphere in India can only get more competitive and it’s best if young people get prepared to be tested. Also, by retaining 20 per cent weightage for school evaluation, there’s scope for all-round performance evaluation.
The policy changes in languages are likely to be bewildering, with only English and Indian languages among the first three to be studied up to Class 10, while foreign languages will be optional. An ideological tilt is visible in extending Sanskrit study by two years. But then, has it ever been possible to separate education from politics in India?
