CBSE Planning To Hold Practical Exams In December; Board Yet To Decide On External, Internal

As per reports, Central Board of Secondary Education could implement a number of changes in the class 10th and class 12th board examinations to be conducted in 2020. Apart from increasing the registration fee for the candidates the board also changed the rules in the subject change methodology. The board had earlier announced that the class 10 and 12 board examination and practical examinations will be conducted earlier than usual.

In continuation with the same, recent reports have emerged as per which, CBSE board is expected to conduct the examination in or from December 2019. It must, however, be noted that it is the schools which decide the date for the practical examinations while the CBSE only provides a time period within which the schools are supposed to conduct the practical and internal assessment examinations.

The class 10 subjects such as Mathematics and Science have a break up of 80+20 marks. Here, 20 marks are allotted under internal assessment and the board does not allot external examiners for the class 10 practical and internal examinations.

Whereas the class 12 subjects have two types of mark breakups. The first is 70+30 while the other is 80+20. The 70+30 break up is for subjects for which external examiners are appointed to conduct the practical exams in the respective schools. The board has not made a decision whatsoever regarding conducting the examinations at other schools. As per media reports, the board will implement this move on a pilot basis first for the Delhi Region following which it will be tried in schools in the other states. The board, on the other hand, has not confirmed the same yet.

CBSE is yet to make a decision whether external examiners will be appointed for the 80+20 break up subjects or will the subjects be assessed internally. The assessment of these subjects was last year done with the help of an external.

With the board introducing the mark break up in almost all the subjects including mathematics, the sources close to the board have shared that the board will revert to internal assessment as the board is planning to scrap the external examiner for the 80+20 papers.

If there will be any changes, then official circulars from the board notifying the changes along with official confirmation will be put up at cbse.nic.in or cbseacademic.nic.in. At this moment, students are advised to focus on their studies.

Usually the board ensures that there is ample time between implementation of changes, and the board exams. Since the board exams take place in February and onwards, any changes that are decided upon are rolled out by August-September.

CBSE is the national board of education in India, that directly comes under the Government of India. There are over 20,000 schools affiliated to CBSE in India, and the board also has its presence in foreign countries.