Board exams to be held twice a year, says MoE's New curriculum framework

The National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF), based on the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, has been rolled out by the Union Minister of Education with many new changes

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The Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday announced the  National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF), based on the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. According to the new curriculum framework, the board exams will be held two times every year and students will be permitted to retain the best score among the attempts. 

Among the new changes introduced, the students will no longer be limited by streams to choose their subjects in classes 11-12, they will have the flexibility to choose.

The students, furthermore, will have to study two languages in Classes 11th and 12th, out of which at least one language should be Indian, says the Ministry of Education's new curriculum framework, as announced on Wednesday.

Current exercise of 'covering' textbooks in the classroom will be done away with and the price of textbooks to be optimised, said MoE. School boards to foster capacities to offer 'on demand' tests in due course of time, mentions MoE's new curriculum framework.

The new framework also says the board exam test developers and evaluators shall undergo university-certified courses before being eligible for the job.

Board exams 2024: Features

    • The new curriculum structure incorporates the following features:

      

    • Board exams will be held two times per year, giving students two chances every year and the choice to retain their most notable score.

      

    • Selection of subjects in classes 11,12 won't be limited to streams, students get the choice to pick.

    • Class 11, 12 students need to learn two languages and at least one language should be Indian.

      

    • Board tests will evaluate understanding and accomplishment of abilities over long periods of coaching and memorisation.

      

    • The curriculum framework, lined up with the National Education Policy, is ready for the intro of new course books for the 2024 academic session.

Board Exams Twice A Year: Officials

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at a Joint Workshop of National Curriculum Framework Oversight And NSTC Committee that, "Under the guidance of Kasturirangan, the steering committee has prepared the curriculum for the new National Education Policy. They submitted it to the government. The government gave it to the NCERT. NCERT has two committees – National Oversight Committee and National Syllabus and Textbook Committee (NSTC). We expect both these committees to prepare a syllabus according to the requirements of the 21st century and based on original Indian thinking.”

The Education Minister further added, "We want them to prepare futuristic teaching and learning material for class 3 to 12. The first orientation meeting took place today. We are confident that at a time when the world is expecting a lot from India, when the PM has shown the dream of Amrut Kal to the nation, at such times, the new textbooks will fulfil those requirements".