According to the CBSE proposal, class 10th students will have to appear for papers on 10 subjects instead of five. They will have to study three languages instead of two. These will essentially include two Indian languages.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is preparing for major changes in the educational structure at the secondary and higher secondary levels. It is being told that according to the proposal of CBSE Board, students of class 10th will have to give papers of 10 subjects instead of five. They will have to study three languages instead of two during the academic session. These will essentially include two Indian languages. There will be 7 other subjects. Similarly, in class 12th, students will have to study two languages instead of one, in which it will be mandatory to have one Indian language. According to the proposal, they will have to pass in six subjects. At present, one has to pass five subjects each in class 10th and 12th.
The proposed changes are part of CBSE’s broader initiative to implement the National Credit Framework in school education, reports The Indian Express. Credentialization aims to establish academic parity between vocational and general education, thereby facilitating mobility between the two education systems, as proposed by the National Education Policy 2020. The purpose of certification is to bring academic parity between vocational and general education so that both the education systems can get importance as proposed in the National Education Policy 2020.
At present there is no credit system in the school curriculum. According to the plan of CBSE, there will be 1200 notional learning hours in an academic year, of which 40 credits will be given. Notional learning hours refers to the time an average student must spend to achieve the desired results. In other words, a certain number of hours have been allotted to each subject. A student must complete a total of 1200 hours of learning in a year to pass. These 1200 hours will include both academic education in school and non-academic education or experimental education outside school.
Apart from three languages, the seven subjects proposed in class 10th are Mathematics and Computation Thinking, Social Science, Science, Art Education, Physical Education and Well Being, Vocational Education and Environmental Education. Three languages, Mathematics and Computation Thinking, Social Science, Science and Environmental Education will be evaluated through external examination while Art Education, Physical Education and Vocational Education will be evaluated through both external and internal methods. But students have to pass all 10 subjects to move to the next class.
According to the proposal, instead of the existing five subjects (one language and four other subjects) in classes 11 and 12, students will have to study six subjects (two languages and four subjects with a 5th optional subject). At least one of the two languages should be an Indian language.
The plan, which proposes changes in the academic structure of Classes 9, 10, 11 and 12, was sent to heads of CBSE-affiliated schools late last year for their review. They were asked for suggestions and comments on this till December 5, 2023.
According to the report, a CBSE official has said that the board has received favorable response from school heads and teachers. However, school heads have expressed concerns over some points, such as how the shift to the new curriculum will be facilitated, how it will be implemented, and how academic and non-academic learning can be converted into credit, both inside and outside the school. Will be able to.
Topic enhancement plan
To implement this plan, the board has proposed to increase the number of subjects at secondary and higher secondary level. The Board has proposed to add multidisciplinary and professional subjects along with the existing subjects.
The study plan has been converted into teaching hours. Students will earn credits based on instructional hours. The credits earned by the student will be stored digitally in the Academic Bank of Credit. This will be linked to DigiLocker. An official CBSE document said that credits, according to the scheme, will be independent of the marks obtained by the student.
The CBSE official said, “We are working on making a set of guidelines that will help teachers in schools to implement this change. The guidelines will guide them in implementing the new system. These guidelines will act as a broad structure but the autonomy of teachers will remain.”
However, it is not yet clear whether the credit system will be introduced in the next academic year or the year after that.
