The New Pattern of CBSE Board – On Focus

CBSE has been very lenient to its students from last few years. It has really tried to show that it cares for its students. It has tried to show that it really can't see the face of the students look tired and sad and blah blah blah. It tried to decrease the volume of the books the CBSE students carry in their bags. It was in controversy that CBSE recently edited its science books of NCERT and tried to make it more detailed so that the CBSE students do not feel any need for the side books. It was very lenient in these things trying to provide the CBSE students their love and affection. The NCERT science book today consists of all the three basic science subjects, that is, physics, chemistry, and biology in simply one book. In order to save some space in the bags of the students of CBSE, CBSE looks to have done so. Moreover it does not want the students let feel that CBSE books, I mean, the NCERT books of science are bad at all. Moreover, it has tried to show more goodness in its spirits.

I completely agree that CBSE does not have any bad intention towards the students. I agree that all that it is trying to do is to make the students more in interested in their studies and ultimately improve the educative standard of India. But it looks as if even today we the students of India are like guinea pigs. I am saying this because guinea pigs are those organisms which are used to experiment. They are the materials which are used to check whether a given formula works or not. Similar is the case of the students in India. We are being experimented even today, whether any education pattern will work on us or not, whether their wise ideas will create some special effect or not, or whether we will be able to handle ‘so much pressure' or not. All we are doing is to wait and watch and nothing else. I am saying that because nature of the boards of education especially the CBSE board looks as if it is still experimenting on the CBSE students. They are seeing whether their formulas work on the students or not. They regularly come up with so many different types of formulas to work on the students. One of the most top grades, hot, spicy, chilling news is the making optional of the board exams in Class Xth, which is the matriculation. This was really hot news among the masses. From so many years, students had come attending the board exams which they used to fear and they used to consider it as a signboard to the good street or the bad street to their lives. They used to consider it as an important part of their lives and they used to feel some pressure during class tenth. But today, CBSE has made the board exam optional. It looks that CBSE considers its students really weak who cannot handle the pressures of studies. CBSE made the matriculation board exam optional this year only and today it looks that still the students are just guinea pigs.

What did they say regarding making the board exam of Xth class optional? They said that they want to reduce the pressure from the minds of the students of CBSE and that they want to remove the bulk from their minds regarding their class tenth examination. However, they said that they will allow the students who want to attend the board examinations to attend it. But what is the use of this thing? Is this really a gift to the students who will be arriving to class tenth and are going to face board examinations, I mean ‘were going to face' board examination. Is this really so good in itself? I do not agree fully with this decision of CBSE. Yes, it is a mentality of people, in India that whatever good, the government does, the public always finds something bad and that whatever bad things the government seems to be doing, the public always finds something good in it. But it is not always so. Here, regarding the decision of CBSE this is neither fully good nor fully wrong as well. But it looks that the CBSE students are going to have fun initially, because their matriculation board examination has been made optional but at the same time it also looks that they are going to feel real pain in their futures. Please do not consider my words as defying words to CBSE, but what I am saying is my own opinion. I am not trying to say that CBSE has done something which is going to prove a curse, but I would say that even it is not that cursing, but with due time, it will surely prove to be a lacking and a due part in their future course of life. Why am I saying this, there is my personal opinion behind this? Yes, I surely think that CBSE is trying to be compassionate towards the students in CBSE by eliminating the board exams and making it optional, but then what about the courses which they are going to study in future. They have made the class X exams optional. They have said that all the questions which will come in the exams will be from the NCERT books only but then what about class XII or the engineering course, medical course or whatever course? Are they going to ease these examinations as well? Let's just think about the class XII examinations? People say that in India class X and class XII are the most important classes in one's life because these are the standards which decide the fate of the students, basically and that also class XII is the most important one.

The board exams during class X used to make the students aware of the type of examination they will have to face during class XII, that means that though they had to suffer some extremism during their class X studies, but at least they knew that what is a board exam and that was somewhere or the other, a help for the students during class XII while writing the board exams of class XII. But by making the matriculation board exam, an optional one, they have snatched away the chance for the students to make themselves acquainted with the nature of board exams and that would make the job tougher during class XII. So it looks that they have actually made the work tougher for the students and tension is going to welcome them during that stage.

Moreover, it is only class X when they have removed. They have said that students need not read any side books to give exams, just solve out one book, that is the books affiliated to CBSE, and all done. Very well, but what about the future examinations? Are they going to say the same thing during engineering courses, do they have that capability and power to say so? No, they do not. The students will be lacking the ability to cope up with the students of other boards, say the ICSE boards. While those students would be having more knowledge when compared to the CBSE students, CBSE students would be recalling the days of their class Xth board examination which had been made optional.

These were things related to the making of the class X examination as an optional one. Though this news is just about some 8 months old, but still I have newer and fresher news than that. It is about the CCE.

What is CCE? CCE is an acronym for the new plan of CBSE for the class IX onwards students which is called Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation. Now I am going to tell you about it in a bit detailed manner. CBSE has declared that from this year, there will Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation in all CBSE affiliated schools. The performance of the students will be evaluated regularly and students will be diagnosed frequently. CBSE says that before CCE was implemented, only the academic evaluation was done. It says that only things related to books etc. used to be evaluated and thereby, the talents of the students could not be brought on a good platform. Now, CBSE demands for not only good performance in academic subjects but also demands for interest in extracurricular activities. It says that it will now also evaluate the overall performance of the students according to their behavior. I appreciate this at least. It asks for good behavior towards teacher, good attitude towards friends, towards environment, etc. But now there is something which if I tell, the readers in ISC would surely think about. CBSE also asks for the quality of teeth a student has, some more health issues, wow, that is great. What does CBSE want to do with the teeth of the students? Anyways, this was a little joke in the between.

Actually CBSE has come up with many more reforms in the pattern. Not only CCE, but CBSE says that from now on, the question papers would be prepared on CBSE pattern. The schools would be no more making their own separate question papers, evaluate them and send the marks to CBSE. Now CBSE will provide uniform question papers. This is something which I really liked. Anyway, it does not end up here. CBSE has launched a new set of syllabus for the class IX students this year that will be going to class X, which is the first batch which is going to enjoy optional matriculation board exam. But the new syllabus really has proved that CBSE is not that sweet and that caring which it looked to be. It is like you tell someone to walk for 10000 metres, tell him that you are free to go now, without any luggage, and in the middle, you give him 2 trunks full of luggage to carry and then walk away to the destination.

Okay, so many things I discussed above, but I would still say that CBSE is not actually helping the students of CBSE, but giving them sweet poison which will not allow them to cope up with the students of other boards because of different education levels. CBSE says that it wants to reduce pressure from the shoulders of the CBSE students but then what is it doing? It includes a vast syllabus once again for the class IX students. They first told that the board exam has been made optional and it was a merrymaking thing for so many people and then suddenly CBSE throws new evaluation pattern for the class IX onwards students. What is this actually? Why not let the evaluation be similar as it used to be? Why making the board exam optional? Is it only the CBSE students, who face pressure, carry heavy bags and so on and so on? What about the students from other boards like ICSE? They don't feel pressure? Do their books weigh only 10 grams and the books of CBSE students weighs 500 grams? Is it only the CBSE students, who suicide when they fail and don't the other students from other boards are found in the suicide cases?

As a result of this so called calm behavior of CBSE, one must have a look at the results of all big examinations. In most of the cases the first rank is secured by the students from other boards, and not from CBSE. It is only the third or the fourth rank which it secures usually. Why does this happen? Doesn't CBSE have something to do about it? Can't it make the syllabus for IIT entrance exams a bit easier, so that the students which belong to the CBSE board can find it easy to attend that examination? I am sure CBSE can think about it.

Anyhow, I would say that this was a total of my own opinions. It is not that I am trying to be an exception and show heroes of my own going against CBSE, nor I am defying it, it is just a public opinion from my side. However, I invite all those, especially those who belong to the CBSE board to post their views and tell us what they think about this.