New Delhi, September 17
Students set to appear for the Class X board exams can now look forward to choosing their own examination schedule. Allowing students this flexibility, the Council of Boards of School Education in India (COBSE) here today agreed to implement the grading system by year 2008 and also made a case for including internal assessment in schools.

On the final day of a three-day meeting to discuss the provisions of the National Curriculum Framework 2005, the COBSE gave its assent to the proposal that allowed students to choose their own examination schedule.

Instead of taking all examination in one go, students can now choose the date on which they wish to take a particular examination. “Currently students have to appear for the exams in one go, the results are declared in March and then there are re-exams for those who fail in some exams. What we have proposed now is that the annual examination should be spread over a couple of months so that a student can take a few papers in one month and the rest in the subsequent months. “Results will” however, be declared in one go, said Mr D V Sharma, general secretary, COBSE.

Pointing out that the boards are against the proposal to make Class X exams optional, Mr Sharma said the idea of allowing students to clear the board exams in two or three years was turned down by various state boards on the plea that it would be of advantage to a few elite schools.

Even as the proposal to make third language optional is still being studied, the COBSE has recommended that teaching of environment education should be done in an integrated manner. “All the boards feel that the approach should be integrated, but since there is a Supreme Court directive in this regard, we will consider making an appeal,” Sharma said.

The boards are of the view that environment education as a separate subject could add to the students’ burden.

“While the schools have been given the go ahead to introduce the grading system, we wish to discuss the issue further to see which model can be adopted for the external examinations.

At the school level the models can vary, but at the public examination level, the model should preferably be the same, ”Mr Sharma pointed out.

The need for introducing internal assessment was also highlighted.

“The boards proposed that internal assessment should contribute 20 per cent to the final score of the student”, he said.