New Curriculum Framework: In the new education policy, the focus will also be on skill-based education for the students, in which the students will also get many types of flexibility.
National Education Policy: The National Council of Educational Research and Training has announced that final exams will be held twice a year to give students both “time and opportunity” and the two-board examination system is about to return. The Union Ministry of Education launched the new Curriculum Framework for school education in line with the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP).
What’s in the new framework
- Board exams will be conducted twice a year and students will be allowed to maintain the best score.
- Board exams will assess understanding, achievement of competencies as compared to months of coaching and memorization.
- The selection of subjects in class 11, 12 will not be limited to the stream only, students will get flexibility in selection.
- Class 11, 12 students have to study two languages, at least one language should be Indian.
- Apart from this, textbooks will be developed for the 2024 academic session.
- The present practice of ‘covering’ textbooks in class will be avoided, the cost of textbooks will be optimised.
- School boards will develop the capacity to offer ‘on demand’ tests in due course.
- Board exam test developers, evaluators must undergo university-certified courses before undertaking this work.
The NCF said in a move to ease board exams from the current “high-risk” practice, the exam will assess understanding and achievement of competencies instead of months of coaching and memorization. The Ministry of Education had said in 2020 that NEP 2020 was introduced to bring various reforms in higher education including school education as well as technical education. Regarding the current challenges of board exams, the NCF says that it only focuses on “the ability of the students to reproduce the facts learned”, which is not the case for the exams.
