Boards—How Burdensome!

As soon as a student reaches class tenth, the word ‘Board’ starts to haunt. Yes, for most of the students, Board exams are no less than a nightmare. It doesn’t matter whether a student has been brilliant so far or not so well, the word BOARD haunts each student equally. But, recently, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has taken some steps to curb such problems.Some recent changes made by the CBSE can be seen as a positive sign by the students. It has been announced that 15 extra minutes will be given to students for going through the question paper before the answer sheet has been distributed. This is a very good proposal. The student will be able to read carefully the whole question paper, which in earlier cases wasn’t possible as the students had to rush through the question sheet and start writing answers. This will result in lesser silly mistakes by the students while writing their answers in a hurry. This will even enable the students to judge what exactly the question being asked is.Along with this, there has been another announcement that the question paper would be made in such a way that students are able to complete it in two-and-a half-hours, besides getting sufficient time for revision. This will be very helpful in examinations of English, wherein the students can revise their answer sheets to check for spelling mistakes due to which a lot of marks can be gained or lost very easily. In the Mathematics examination, it will be a boon. The students will get ample time to check their calculations part and thus minimize marks deduction. It will be of a great help in other subjects as well.About changes made in the curriculum of Social Sciences in recent years, it was really needed. Concentrating completely on Indianhistory and heritage, SST is one subject in which the students are gaining interest. Learning about our own heritage and natural beauty itself is very interesting and when it is taught as a subject, students will develop interest in the subject.Internal assessment of students has also proved to be a beneficial change for the students. About 20% marks are kept for the evaluation of the student by the teachers, who teach the student throughout the year. This has helped the student who works hard throughout the year but doesn’t get a good score in the end as suitable marks can be allotted to such students. This is a good step to bring down the number of failures and thus decrease the enormous amount of stress under which the students fail.Though the CBSE is continuously making changes for reducing the stress factor from the Board classes, there is still quite a lot of work yet to be done. The CBSE is required to promote the concept of practical and integrated learning from the very beginning itself. The curriculum needs more alterations to meet the demands of the job sector so that more efficient people get the jobs as soon as they pass out from schools. Also, the secondary education needs to be integrated with the selection criteria for the higher education so that everyone gets an equal opportunity to get admission to the best institutes for pursuing their goals.No doubt that the CBSE has so far done praiseworthy work in reducing the stress factor of the Board exams but it won’t be complete until the students look upon the Boards from the right perceptive, analyze their own capabilities and weaknesses, and study with a positive state of mind to pursue their careers. The word suicide committed by some failures has shaken educationists much. Counselling sessions must be undertaken regularly especially in Board classes in every school. The purpose of the CBSE will be fulfilled only when the suicide virtually stops and studies becomes a fun, an interesting exercise meant to make us good human beings.