New Delhi: The Council for the Indian School Certification Examination (CISCE) on Friday announced the assessment scheme for pending class 10 and 12 exams which have been cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
As per the scheme, candidates will be assessed based on best three percentage marks obtained from among the subjects for which board exams have been conducted and the marks of their internal assessment as well as project work will be taken into account.
"The components used to arrive at the formula to award the marks in the papers will include the average of the best three percentage marks obtained from among the papers the candidate has appeared for in the board examination and the percentage of marks obtained by the candidate in the internal assessment of the paper," an official order by the board said.
"While the former measures the subject proficiency of the candidates, the latter is a measure of their general academic ability. The marks awarded to the candidates are taken as a weighted average of these two components," it added.
The internal assessment formula will be applicable for class 12 which is the Indian School Certificate (ISC) exam, while for class 10 which is Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), the project work will be taken into account.
"The marks imputation formulae for the remaining exams have been devised by reputed statisticians from premier institutions in the country. To compute any average, all marks will be converted to percentage scores," the board said.
The exams, which were earlier postponed due to the lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus, were scheduled to be conducted from July 1 to 14.
The board had later announced that class 10 and 12 students can choose not to appear for pending board exams and be marked as per their performance in pre-board exams or internal assessment. However, the exams were cancelled last week in view of the spike in the cases.
The assessment scheme announced by ICSE is different than that of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) where marks will be given on basis of average of the score in three subjects. The internal assessment will only be accounted in case students who have appeared for one exam conducted by the board or not appeared at all.
While CBSE will give students of class 12 an option to improve their scores later through pen and paper examination when the situation is conducive, ICSE will not give the option to its students.
CICSE announces up to 25 pc reduction in syllabus for 2021 board exams
The Council on Friday announced a reduction of up to 25 per cent in syllabus for classes 10 and 12 board exams in 2021 taking into account the learning disruption due to closure of schools during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
"To make up for the loss in instructional hours during the current session, the CISCE has worked with its subject experts, to reduce the syllabus for all major subjects at the ICSE (Class 10) and ISC (Class 12) levels. Syllabus reduction has been done, keeping in mind the linear progression across classes while ensuring that the core concepts related to the subject are retained," CICSE Chief Executive and Secretary Gerry Arathoon said.
Arathoon said at present the syllabi has been reduced by up to 25 per cent, but that is subject to further review of the prevailing conditions and the council may have to reduce it further in case the prevailing conditions don't turn conducive.
"Given the academic loss till July, which is around 45 days we have reduced the syllabus for the students appearing for Class 10 and 12 Boards up to 25 pc. However, that is subject to further review as from July first week our schools are only able to resume online classes. This could have further adverse effects. We may even have to reduce the syllabi further and may even have to go up to 50 pc reduction," he said.
The board has directed its schools to ensure that the subject teachers concerned at the ICSE and ISC levels transact the syllabus strictly according to the sequence of topics given in the syllabus, so as to facilitate further reduction in syllabus, if required, depending on the situation of the pandemic in the country.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is also in the process of reducing the syllabus and has sought suggestions from various stakeholders. However, the final syllabus has not been notified yet.
