CBSE begins review of CCE, optional Class X board exam

HIGHLIGHTS

• CBSE chairman R K Chaturvedi said on Tuesday that the board was consulting stakeholders on the issue
• The review comes after many schools and state governments voiced opinion in favour of making the exam compulsory again
• NEW DELHI: The CBSE has begun a review of the optional board exams for Class X as well as the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) followed in affiliated schools.
  
  CBSE chairman R K Chaturvedi said on Tuesday that the board was consulting stakeholders on the issue. "A majority say that a dual system for the Class X exams is confusing. The exams are linked with CCE, and there again most stakeholders feel redundant elements can be removed," he said. The review comes after many schools and state governments voiced opinion in favour of making the exam compulsory again.
  
  Chaturvedi also an nounced a slew of reforms. He said a committee had been set up to recommend changes in examination bylaws and affiliation rules. Besides, student-friendly initiatives, such allowing them to apply for certificates from any regional office, were in the pipeline.
  
  "These (bylaws) have been written long ago. Though there have been amendments from time to time, many things are not very clear.Education is dynamic and needs reform. We have constituted a committee headed by Pavnesh Kumar, former controller of examinations, to do away with the ambiguities.The idea is to give more teeth for punitive action against affiliation violations and also improve the examination system," said R K Chaturvedi, chairman, CBSE.
  
  The board has over 18,000 schools under its fold and is planning to digitise all data related to these schools.
  
  "Tracking all schools is a big task. We have devised a system for which the schools have to make some mandatory disclosures. Unless the board has all the data, it can't improve its planning. Also, the parents and students need to know about their schools and the facilities," Chaturvedi said.
  
  "The bylaws say fees should be commensurate with the facilities offered by schools. The schools will also have to put up such data on their websites," the chairman added.
  
  In order to fast-track the affiliation process, the board is also undertaking an e-affiliation initiative and is planning to set up a separate wing for affiliation and examination.
• he board is also taking up a major task of sanitising the data before going for the final print of certificates to avoid errors. "These certificates are primary documents for everything and therefore the system needs to be sanitized. After schools fill up the forms, these will be sent to parents for checking and signatures," Chaturvedi said.
  
  
  
  Apart from that, a student will now be able to download his or her certificate from a digital locker. Also, any institution registered with CBSE will be able to get certificates submitted to it authenticated online.
• The board is digitising all its certificates, starting with those from 2015 onwards, and any candidate in need of his her certificate can get it from any of the regional offices. In the past, these certificates were available only in the specific region from where the board exam was taken.
  
  
  
  Information on examination centres is also being made available online. This would enable candidates to locate a centre on GIS maps in their mobile phones and to view its facilities.
• Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/cbse-begins-review-of-cce-optional-class-x-board-exam/articleshow/54686916.cms