CBSE wants to revamp Class X, XII exam pattern from 2020: Here's the plan

The questions will be shorter and stress would be on probing the critical thinking abilities of students

If everything goes according to plan, the question papers of Class X and XII will, in a couple years, wear a fresh look. The questions will be shorter and more in the nature of problem-solving. In effect, rote learning will walk out the door and questions based on testing students' analytical abilities will be the new norm.

All of these changes and more will become a reality if the CBSE Exams goes ahead with its revamp plan, as was reported on Thursday by 'The Times of India'.

"The questions will be more in the nature of problem-solving. There will be more short questions (between 1 to 5 marks). The stress would be on probing the critical thinking abilities of students and test actual learning outcomes rather than allow students to score high marks by virtue of rote," the report quoted a senior unnamed HRD official as saying.

According to the report, the CBSE also plans to hold vocational subject tests earlier and early declaration of results. The exams for vocational subjects will be held in February while the main subject tests will end in March "in around 15 days".

"This will give evaluators more time to check papers. Results, too, will likely be declared earlier", the report said.

The board is also mulling introducing new bylaws to simplify and shorten the affiliation process. According to the new affiliation/renewal laws, the decision will be based highly on the school's academic quality -- such as the quality of teachers, learning outcomes, and pedagogy. Also, the state's directorates of education/school education departments will evaluate the schools' facilities and the CBSE will depend on their reports while arriving at a decision.

"Instead, CBSE will put to use its resources in measuring the academic quality," the official said.

While the proposals regarding the examination schedule are "still at the discussion stage", according to the report, the board is already working toward implementing the changes in question paper by the year 2020.

Article Source : BS

Microsoft builds digital solution for CBSE to prevent question paper leaks

At present, the solution is having its pilot run, but it has passed the first test with flying colours

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which came under heavy criticism this year following the leak of class 10 mathematics paper and class 12 economics paper, has forged a partnership with tech giant Microsoft to prevent such leaks in the future.

The paper leaks triggered nation-wide outrage among students and parents. This set the CBSE, which has 20,299 schools in the country, in action, paving the way for the partnership with Microsoft which developed an encrypted security solution for digital question papers for the board within a period of three months.

"We have developed for CBSE an innovative solution which makes question papers leak-proof until 30 minutes prior to the start of the examinations," Anil Bhansali, Managing Director, Microsoft India (R&D) and Corporate Vice President, Cloud and Enterprise, told IANS in a telephonic interaction.

"But if the question papers get leaked after they are allowed to download (just half an hour before the start of the exam) due to some bad actors, the system allows easy traceability as question paper for each centre are watermarked," Bhansali said.

At present, the solution is having its pilot run, but it has passed the first test with flying colours, Microsoft claimed.

As part of their collaboration, CBSE and Microsoft successfully executed in July the first ever pilot of the digital question paper generation and delivery process at 487 centres for compartment examinations for class 10.

How does the system work?

The system allows the Controller of examination to track the entire process using a software solution built on Windows 10 and Office 365.

The overall process is encrypted and a two-factor authentication process is embedded. So examiners will have to identify themselves before they can download the examination papers. They are allowed to download the papers (after authetification) only 30 minutes prior to start of the exams. (more)

Rahul Gandhi seeks probe in NEET candidates' data leak, writes to CBSE

Rahul called for putting in place additional safeguards to prevent such a breach in the future

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has written a letter to the CBSE over media reports claiming a massive breach of data of candidates who appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test this year, and demanded an inquiry into the matter.

In the letter to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) chairperson Anita Karwal, he called for putting in place additional safeguards to prevent such a breach in the future.

Drawing attention to the recent media reports regarding the "massive breach" of candidate data, Gandhi, in his letter, said, "It is alleged that this data is available on certain websites for a price, and has leaked the data of over 2,00,000 students".

Education news : The reports claimed that personal data, including names, phone numbers and email ids of over 2,00,000 candidates, who appeared for CBSE's National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) this year, were available for a price on some online portals.

I am shocked by this wide scale theft of personal data that has compromised the privacy of candidates across the country, Gandhi wrote in the letter.

He said it highlighted the serious lack of safeguards to prevent data breach, and calls into question the ability of the CBSE to ensure the sanctity of the examination process.

I strongly urge you to order an inquiry against this shocking lapse and take action against the officials responsible for the same. In addition, I request you to put additional safeguards to prevent the recurrence of such data breaches, Gandhi said.

The CBSE conducted the NEET on May 6 in 136 cities in 11 languages, the results of which were announced on June 4.

National Testing Agency not CBSE to conduct entrance exams

The proposal for the creation of an exclusive agency to conduct all entrance tests was cleared by the Union cabinet on November 10, 2017

On November 10, 2017, Friday, the Union cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared a proposal for the creation of a National Testing Agency (NTA). An exclusive body, NTA will initially conduct entrance examinations currently being managed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

Setting up of NTA will reportedly benefit about four million students appearing in various entrance examinations.

According to an official communique, the NTA would, over time, also relieve the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and other agencies from the responsibility of conducting entrance tests and hence enabling them to focus on their core mandate.

Exams affected 

CBSE currently conducts major higher education-related entrance tests apart from school exams at the Class X and Class XII level for CBSE-affiliated schools. The board also conducted five other tests including the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) for students aspiring to join medical colleges, the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE-Main) for admission to the elite IITs, and the National Eligibility Test (NET) on behalf of the University Grants Commission (UGC) for selecting professors to teach in colleges and universities, the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) for appointment of teachers across states, and the entrance test for Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs). (more)

CBSE class 12 results to be declared Today at 12 pm

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class 12 results for the 2016 batch is scheduled to be announced on May 21 at 12 p.m., a report said on Friday. Candidates can access the results from the official CBSE website.

To check the results online, the candidates are required to follow the steps listed below:

1. Go to the official website http://www.cbse.nic.in,www.cbseresults.nic.in

2. Click on the link and go to 'CBSE Class 12 Results 2016'

3. Enter your roll number

4. Your CBSE class 12 result 2016 will pop up

5. Download your results and if needed, take a print out for future referenceRead more.