CBSE, don’t disclose marks of summative assessment II (SA-II) to students of Class X

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked its schools “not to communicate the marks of summative assessment II (SA-II) to the candidates of Class X under any circumstances”.

This year’s batch of Class X students is the first to not take the Board exams, after the CBSE extended the new evaluation scheme of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) to this class as well. The scheme was introduced in Class IX initially.

Students taking the exams in March this year will be awarded grades and grade points in each subject instead of marks.

Under the CCE, students are evaluated throughout the year and both the scholastic and non-scholastic areas are taken into consideration. Summative assessments are the term-ending exams. In each term, there are two formative assessments (that test the non-scholastic areas) and one summative assessment (the pen and paper term-ending exam).

The summative assessment-I for classes IX and X was conducted in the second half of September.

The answer scripts of Class X students, meanwhile, will be evaluated internally by the school. The CBSE has also said they will provide the question paper to the schools. In fact, the CBSE will send a marking scheme to the schools for evaluation of papers by the teachers. Schools, however, have the freedom to involve teachers from other schools for evaluation of the answer scripts.

The CBSE will go for a “random verification of the assessment procedures of schools” through Board officials or nominees appointed by the Board.

The CBSE official said the Board will send separate CDs containing question paper banks for classes IX and X. The school may either pick up one question paper for each subject or mix and match the papers by using different questions or sections from different sets of question papers and prepare a question paper based on the Board’s sample paper, design and blueprint.

The Board also has given a choice to schools to “prepare their own question papers” as per the sample paper available on the CBSE website. In case a school prepares its own question papers, the authorities will have to send the question papers and marking scheme to the Board for verification within a week of conduct of the respective papers, officials said.

For Class IX, the Board plans to dispatch the CDs containing question papers to all schools that they to reach by February 20. The SA-II of both classes IX and X starts in March.

CBSE to help fight student stress, by discussing students' problems on phone

To give students in classes X and XII relief from the examination stress, Central Board of Secondary Education will be starting its counselling sessions from Monday. Twenty counsellors from across the country will listen to students' problems over the phone. Any issue related to upcoming exams can be discussed with them.

"The purpose of these counselling sessions is to relieve the children from the pressure that they might be facing and help them maintain their mental health," said CBSE counsellor Rakesh Sachdeva, who is principal of DAV Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 15.

The programme that was started 13 years ago by the board saw great success in the city in 2009. Around 500 calls were received in the two months off the helpline's opening. This year also, counsellors are hoping to help many children.

"I am already getting calls from students about various things like the system of continuous and comprehensive examination, places where they can download question papers, format of CBSE exams and the syllabus as well. We will handle calls from students from all over India. Parents, teachers and students should read circular no. 5 for issues related to the exams on the CBSE website," said

counsellor Madhu Bahl, principal of KBDAV, Sector 7.

Students and parents can call on the helpline numbers to talk about any problems pertaining to the exams. Counsellors are also equipped to talk about ways to deal with examination stress. The helplines will be open for students and parents to call 24 hours a day till March 31. Anonymity of the callers would be maintained.(TOI)

Schools told to hold 10th exam as per CBSE norms

Schools affiliated to the CBSE will conduct and evaluate Class X examinations for those who have opted out of appearing for the board examinations this year, but the board will still run the show when it comes to designing question papers, scheduling examinations, announcing results and presenting certificates.

The schools will hold examinations for students who have opted out of appearing for the board examination scheduled to begin on March 1. While the CBSE will not directly monitor conduct of the examination, schools affiliated to it are expected to prepare question paper banks devised by the board. They will be given the option of either picking a question paper or mix and match different question papers as long as they maintain weightage given to various sections.

Schools can also prepare their own question papers in accordance with the CBSE blueprint, but they will have to email the papers to the board for verification within a week of their preparation.

Across the country, there are nearly eight lakh students studying in Class X in schools affiliated to the CBSE. While the board has not officially declared the number of students who have opted to appear for the board exam, the number is expected to be around five lakh. In Karnataka, according to CBSE statistics, nearly 15,000 students study in Class X in 126 schools across the state. In 2010, 14,329 students appeared for the board exam.

According to the CBSE, the evaluation of answer scripts will be done by school teachers on the basis of the marking scheme provided by the board. However, schools will be subjected to random verification of the assessment procedures by CBSE officials or nominees appointed by the board.

Schools also do not have much freedom when it comes to holding the examination. The CBSE has announced that schools will have to conduct the final Class X exam by the second half of March. They have also been advised to hold examination for English (Communicate/Language and Literature) and Science after March 23.

Under the newly introduced Continous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) scheme, four formative assessments and two summative assessments will be held in an academic year.

Source-http://deccanherald.com