Students of classes IX and XI of schools affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) will get a feel of actual board examinations from 2020.
For the first time, CISCE schools will conduct annual exams for classes IX and XI based on a common set of question papers given by the council, just like it happens in the Classes X and XII board exams, to help make examinees feel more comfortable when they sit for the board exams the following year.
The board has clarified that the answer papers of the examinees of classes IX and XI will be checked by the respective schools only, though evaluators will follow the norms of the council. There are about 103 CISCE affiliated schools in Jharkhand.
The annual examinations for classes IX and XI will kick off on February 10, 2020. However, they will end on different dates, February 26 for class IX, and March 4 for class XI.
Educators have welcomed the step.
Ashu Tiwary, principal of the CISCE-affiliated Motilal Nehru Public School in Jamshedpur, said: “It will give students a feel of actual board examinations and so they’ll be better prepared. They know that their teachers aren’t setting the paper.”
She added the whole system of preparatory exams such as these also increased the credibility of the board examinations. “Students will gain from the experience as they’ll know where they stand and how to move forward.”
“Class IX, especially, is a transition period for many students. There are so many students who are detained in this class over poor performance. Now they can prepare better,” said principal of Kerala PublicSchool, Kadma, Sharmila Mukherjee.
She explained that after the implementation of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, schools can’t detain students till Class VIII. As a result, many weaker students face detention for the first time in Class IX and their confidence is shot to pieces.
That’s why principals feel that common and centralised annual exams like the one in Class IX would reduce anxiety and stress among teenagers during the actual board exam in Class X.
