By Aditya Wadhawan
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to increase the number of competency-based questions in Boards 2024. The changes will apply to classes IX and XI also.
In the coming academic session, 50% of questions will be competency-based, as against the 40% weightage given till now. The weightage of the competency-based questions has been increased from 30% to 40% for class XII.
The Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) have been given a weightage of 20-25%, which remains unchanged. To prepare students, CBSE is planning to train the teachers to apply innovative pedagogies including art-and sports-integrated learning, story-telling, and project-based learning.
Speaking to Education Times, Joseph Emmanuel, director (Academics), CBSE, “The competency-based questions will be source-based and case-based, assertion and reasoning questions. The decision to increase the percentage of competency-based questions in Boards was initiated in 2019-20 and is in sync with NEP 2020 recommendations.”
By attempting more competency-based questions, the higher-order thinking skills, conceptual understanding, attainment of learning outcomes, and the ability to apply concepts in real-life scenarios, students will be qualitatively measured. This analysis was discouraged earlier as the focus was on rote learning,” added Emmanuel.
Besides this, short and long-answer questions will continue. To prevent unfair practices in the MCQs, CBSE plans to shuffle the order of the questions and responses, said Emmanuel.
Teachers training
CBSE is undertaking capacity-building programmes for teachers to improve the quality of learning. New initiatives such as ‘Key Stage Assessment (SAFAL) and School Quality Assessment and Assurance (SQAA) will accelerate the progress of exam reforms by enhancing the capacity of students, teachers, and schools toward competency-focused education and assessment in line with the vision of NEP 2020. For this, several resources have been developed for students and teachers’ manuals including handbooks, workbooks, question banks, exemplar lesson plans, etc,” adds Emmanuel.
Kulbhushan Sharma, national president, National Independent Schools Alliance, says, “It is a progressive move by CBSE to increase the number of competency-based questions from the next year’s board exams as it would qualitatively enhance the cognitive development of students. The learning outcome will be analysed through diversified competency-based questions. The major focus should be to train the teachers in CBSE-affiliated schools in the rural belts for better results in classrooms.”
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to increase the number of competency-based questions in Boards 2024. The changes will apply to classes IX and XI also.
In the coming academic session, 50% of questions will be competency-based, as against the 40% weightage given till now. The weightage of the competency-based questions has been increased from 30% to 40% for class XII.
The Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) have been given a weightage of 20-25%, which remains unchanged. To prepare students, CBSE is planning to train the teachers to apply innovative pedagogies including art-and sports-integrated learning, story-telling, and project-based learning.
Speaking to Education Times, Joseph Emmanuel, director (Academics), CBSE, “The competency-based questions will be source-based and case-based, assertion and reasoning questions. The decision to increase the percentage of competency-based questions in Boards was initiated in 2019-20 and is in sync with NEP 2020 recommendations.”
By attempting more competency-based questions, the higher-order thinking skills, conceptual understanding, attainment of learning outcomes, and the ability to apply concepts in real-life scenarios, students will be qualitatively measured. This analysis was discouraged earlier as the focus was on rote learning,” added Emmanuel.
Besides this, short and long-answer questions will continue. To prevent unfair practices in the MCQs, CBSE plans to shuffle the order of the questions and responses, said Emmanuel.
Teachers training
CBSE is undertaking capacity-building programmes for teachers to improve the quality of learning. New initiatives such as ‘Key Stage Assessment (SAFAL) and School Quality Assessment and Assurance (SQAA) will accelerate the progress of exam reforms by enhancing the capacity of students, teachers, and schools toward competency-focused education and assessment in line with the vision of NEP 2020. For this, several resources have been developed for students and teachers’ manuals including handbooks, workbooks, question banks, exemplar lesson plans, etc,” adds Emmanuel.
Kulbhushan Sharma, national president, National Independent Schools Alliance, says, “It is a progressive move by CBSE to increase the number of competency-based questions from the next year’s board exams as it would qualitatively enhance the cognitive development of students. The learning outcome will be analysed through diversified competency-based questions. The major focus should be to train the teachers in CBSE-affiliated schools in the rural belts for better results in classrooms.”
