New Minimum Attendance Rule For CBSE Exams
Following on from a range of changes planned to the CBSE curriculum in the coming years, the Central Board of Secondary Education, in its latest notice, has directed all schools to calculate attendance of students who are due to appear for Grade 10 and Grade 12 Board Exams as on January 1, 2020 for the current academic year. Students whose attendance is calculated to be less than 75% will not be allowed to appear for the exams, as per the rule mandated by the CBSE.
The changes will affect students at four international schools in Singapore that offer the CBSE curriculum from Grade 10: GIIS SMART Campus, NPS International School, Yuvabharathi International School, and Global Indian International School (East Coast).
Admit cards will be released only for students who are eligible according to all regulations, including that of mandatory attendance. The list of candidates with below the minimum attendance requirements was due to be sent to regional offices and the final decision on whether students will be permitted to appear for the examinations is due to be taken on or before January 7.
If candidates can show genuine reasons behind the shortfall in attendance, they are required to submit supporting documents with the authorities by January 7. According to the circular issued by the CBSE, cases will not be considered after the deadline.
In addition to this rule, several other changes will be introduced in the 2020 CBSE Board Exams. According to the CBSE, these steps were taken to stop students from memorising lessons, and, instead, to develop analytical skills and reasoning abilities, and to improve the academic quality of institutions.
Initial exam format changes include the introduction of two-level Maths (standard and basic) which will enable students to select the option best suited to their abilities, and there will also be more multiple choice questions. Such questions will also have 33 per cent more options and exam papers will include more questions focused on higher-order thinking skills in comparison to questions based on rote memorisation.
Theory exams, instead of being of 100 marks, will have 80 marks with the remaining 20 marks accounted for by internal assessments which must be passed in order for students to appear for the main examinations. These changes have been applied only to English and Maths at this point, but further substantial changes to subjects such as Political Science and languages expected to be impacted by the new focus.
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