Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has notified that students who will appear in CBSE board exams 2020 should follow the syllabus prescribed by the board, and not what NCERT books says.
The statement may seem confusing at first, but the meaning is elaborated in the latest notification published by CBSE at cbse.nic.in.
CBSE directs schools affiliated to the board to use National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) books only. Therefore Class 9, 10, 11, and 12 students in all CBSE schools study NCERT books only for all their subjects. Now in these books, at certain sections, it is written that the section is not for the purpose of examination / assessment.
What CBSE means to say by its notification is, that if students see such sections in their books that says that this is not for examination / assessment, then they should not think that no question will be asked from that section. If that part is in the CBSE syllabus, then questions can be asked from it.
In fact, there are some colorful boxes also in NCERT books, that talk about real life examples, or extra knowledge, or sometimes talk about brief of the previous sections. In few of these boxes also it is written that this part is not for assessment. CBSE makes it clear that such instructions in NCERT books are not applicable for board exams.
So the question that may arise in the minds of students next is, what is the syllabus from which questions will be asked in board exams?
CBSE 2020 exams will be based on the syllabus given on the website cbseacademic.nic.in/curriculum.html. On that page, curriculum or syllabus for class 9, 10, 11, and 12 are provided. The syllabus provided there is latest, for academic session 2019-2020.
The notification in question is available at cbse.nic.in, by the title “CIRCULAR : SYLLABUS FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXAMINATION IN 2020”.
It says “The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) prescribes NCERT textbooks for Classes IX & X and XI & XI. It has been brought to the notice of CBSE that in these books, at certain places, it is mentioned that particular part of the book is not for the purpose of examination/assessment. Similar instructions are given for the information/question provided in boxes also. It is for information of all concerned that this information is not applicable for the students who will be appearing in the Class X and XI! examinations conducted by CBSE in 2020.”
After that it also says “Schools and students are advised to go through the Class X and Class XIl syllabus uploaded by CBSE on website http://cbseacademic.nic.in/curriculum.html. Examination/assessment will be done based on the syllabus provided by CBSE and not as given in the NCERT Books. This information be invariably brought to the notice of all teachers, students and parents so that they can make preparations accordingly.”
Moreover the board has recently released CBSE class 10 and 12 sample papers. They are available at cbseacademic.nic.in >> sample question paper. Marking schemes are also provided with them.
CBSE is expected to release the examination datesheet in December. Last year it was published on December 24. Exams for class 10 and 12 will be held in February-March for over 17 lakh class 10 students, and over 12 lakh class 12 students.
