Education, Careers & Professional News
CBSE Takes Axe To Pre-Board Mess
This a pain that students appearing for Boards next year will not have to suffer. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is set to issue an advisory to schools that they do away with multiple mock board exams, popularly known as the preboards.
The advisory is to be issued later this week. What this could mean is goodbye to the series of tests that characterise the class X and XII preparations for the all-important CBSE Board exams. Many city schools conduct as many as four pre-boards before students appear for the event itself.
G Balasubramanium, director (academics), CBSE, said : Schools tend to finish their syllabus by the first term, thereafter concentrating on the preboards only. So many tests only bog down the student with memorised information.
The board, therefore, will ask schools to concentrate on imparting knowledge of concepts. Balasubramanium pointed out that: After all, board exams are meant to test students understanding of concepts.
Its not an argument that schools are willing to buy. Said Usha Ram, principal, Laxman Public school: Theres no harm in testing children. Holding multiple tests is the only way to ensure that they get serious about their studies.
In fact, Ram claims that bringing down the number of pre-boards may impair the performance of students, besides making parents anxious. For parents, how well the student does in these pre-boards is the only way to gauge his or her preparation, she said.
The principal of St Thomas school, C Manoharan, said: One of the reasons for my school doing so well is that we hold two preboards. The first one is like a test-run, where students get to know where they lag. The two tests are preparation for the forthcoming boards, she added. The school produced this years class XII topper.
Coming on the heels of several other measures taken by the board to de-stress school years, any move to restrict pre-boards to one could evoke strong reactions, warn schools. Scrapping multiple preboards will only make schools resort to other means of testing students. For instance, whats to stop them from holding class tests, said Ram. Added Manoharan, The idea is to de-stress students. But that cant be done by holding only one pre-board.
CBSE however dismisses such concerns. Pre-boards only add to the tension of board exams. Schools can prepare students without resorting to testing them several times, said Balasubramanium. Hopefully, schools will also agree