2 March : The Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) Class X and XII Board examinations will begin from 3rd March with students appearing in class tenth boards to be judged through the new ‘Grading system’.
The grading system has been introduced by the CBSE at the Secondary School level (for Classes IX and X) effective from 2009-10 academic session.
A CBSE spokesperson said the number of registered candidates for Class X and XII board exams had increased from 1462016 in the year 2009 to 1601646 this year.The CBSE said new scheme of grading has been introduced with an aim to minimise mis-classification of students on the basis of marks. It will eliminate unhealthy competition among high achievers.
Further, it will reduce societal pressure, provide the learner with more flexibility and lead to focus on a better learning environment.
The student’s performance shall be assessed using conventional method of numerical marking.
The ‘grades’ shall be awarded on a nine point scale to indicate the subject wise performance.
Students securing 91 to 100 marks will be awarded A 1 grade while A 2 grade
will be given for those getting 81 to 90 marks, B 1 grade will be for students getting 71 to 80 marks and B 2 for those getting 61 to 70 marks.
Those getting marks between 51 to 60 will be awarded C 1 grade while C 2 grade will be awarded to students securing marks between 41 to 50 and D grade to those getting 33 to 40 marks.
E 1 grade will be awarded for marks in range of 21 to 32 while those getting 20 and below will be placed in E 2 grade.
The CBSE spokesperson said only subject wise grades shall be shown in the ”statement of subject wise performance” to be issued to all candidates.
Subject-wise percentile score/rank at the National level shall be provided to the schools on demand.
Under the grading system, the practice of declaring Compartment/ Fail shall be discontinued.
Those candidates who obtain the qualifying grades (D and above) in all the subjects excluding additional subject as per scheme of studies shall be awarded a Qualifying Certificate.
Those candidates who obtain grade E1 or E2 in the subject shall have to improve their performance through subsequent five attempts.
Those candidates who are not able to get qualifying grades (D and above) in all the subjects excluding Additional subject as per the scheme shall not be permitted for admission to Class XI.Exemptions available to differently abled students as per CBSE’s rule shall, however, continue to apply.
The scheme shall also be applicable in the assessment of academic performance at the end of Class IX.
The Board has extended the concept of continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) in class IX with effect from October 2009 to be continued in class X for the year 2010-11 onwards. For this purpose syllabus has been split up over two terms.
Each term will have two formative tests of 10% weightage each and one summative test of weightage 20 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.
To facilitate students who are appearing in board examination, CBSE has taken up several new measures.
The Board has for the first time decided to provide class X question papers of Maths and Science in Braille for Blind candidates. Already question papers without visual inputs are being provided in enlarged print to these students in the subjects of
English and Social Science.
This year as many as 52 Principals, trained counsellors from CBSE affiliated government and private schools, psychologists and social scientists are counselling from 0800 hrs upto mid-night from locations like Delhi, Noida, Chandigarh, Meerut, Jaipur, Faridabad, Bhubaneswar, Vishakhapatnam, Jamnagar, Jabalpur, Coimbatore, Bhopal, Nagpur, Bangalore, Guwahati, Kerala, Ludhiana, Kanpur, Bhilai, and Pune across India.
There are 3 helpline centres outside India also at Kuwait, Dubai and Doha Qatar.
The facility to provide counselling to specially abled children was started by the CBSE last year to take care of the needs and anxiety of special children. The facility is available this year also.
For the first time this year, CBSE has introduced a Centralised Access System similar to that of a call centre for the convenience of students. A toll free number 1800 11 7002 has been installed in this direction.
Students can call from any part of the country. The operators will answer general queries and also connect them to the counsellors for psychological counselling.
CBSE has made a unique effort to provide Tele-counselling through Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) mode, the first voice response system to be introduced by any Board of Education in the country.
The service is available for the sixth consecutive year on BSNL/Airtel/ Reliance Phone. For BSNL (Landline & Mobile) and Airtel it is available on 1250102. For Reliance (CDMA) this service is available on 55500102.
CBSE has tied-up with national papers Like The Hindu, Hindustan Times and for the first time with Deccan Chronicle for weekly Question Answer Columns throughout the month of February to answer queries of students by CBSE experts.
Information related to examinations and techniques to cope up with exams and exam related anxiety is also provided at the CBSE website www.cbse.nic.in by accessing icon Helpline.