NEP 2020 implementation: Board exams to be conducted twice a year

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has proposed to conduct board exams twice a year for classes 10th and 12th, to implement the new National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for School Education. This is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which targets to make the schooling system more flexible and more student-oriented. The present-day system carries out a single board examination at the end of the academic session and has been criticized for putting too much stress on students and teachers.

The MoE’s, NCF has introduced guidelines for school education. As per the guidelines, the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) Board exam will be conducted twice a year and it will not be term wise exam. Two separate board exams will be conducted and students will be allowed to retain the best score. The NCF also provides flexibility to the students studying in class 11th while choosing a stream. It also makes it mandatory for students in classes 11th and 12th to study two languages and at least one of them should be an Indian language.

The CBSE will implement the directives of the Union Government and detailed guidelines will be released soon. However, the state government will take the decision for state boards.

On the Joint Workshop of National Curriculum Framework Oversight And NSTC Committee, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said “Under the guidance of Kasturirangan, the steering committee has prepared the curriculum for the NEP. They submitted to the government. The government gave it to the NCERT. NCERT has made two committees, National Oversight Committee and National Syllabus and Textbook Committer (NSTC). We expect both these committees to prepare a syllabus according to the requirements of the 21st century and based on original Indian thinking.”

NEP 2020: Benefits of Conducting Board Exams Twice a Year 

There are many blessings to carrying out board examinations twice a year. A few of them are mentioned below: 

• Reduces stress on students and teachers: The examination pattern of taking a single board examination at the end of the academic session puts a variety of stress on students and teachers. This can result in stress and pressure, which can negatively impact their studying. Conducting board tests twice a year will unfold the stress over an extended period of time, and could give students and teachers more time to prepare. 
• Provides students the possibility to enhance their grades. If a student does not do well in the first examination, they will still have another chance to improve their grades in the second examination. This will give them more motivation to look at and analyze their mistake.
• Makes the assessment process more holistic: The present-day system makes a summative evaluation of a student, which only measures a student’s knowledge at the end of the year. Conducting two examinations permits more formative evaluation, with the intention to offer instructors, extra information about a scholar’s gaining knowledge in the duration of a year. This will assist teachers in helping students and making sure that they’re grabbing the knowledge effectively.
• Prepares students for the future: This is a time of globalization where the world constantly changes, and the abilities that students need to succeed are also changing. Conducting board exams twice a year will help students to develop the skills they require to be successful in the twenty-first century.

The proposal of conducting board exams two times in a span of 12 months is a fantastic step towards enhancing the quality of education in India. It will lessen the strain on students and teachers, and make the assessment process extra holistic. However, there are also a few challenging situations to this notion, along with the increased fee and workload. These challenges have to be addressed before the proposal is implemented. Overall, the suggestion to conduct board tests twice in a single year is a good idea, and it has the potential to make a fantastic impact on the Indian education system.

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