M A I N   N E W S

CBSE mulls changing Class XII paper format
May make it more subjective; matter to be discussed with state boards
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 16
With daunting Delhi University college cut-offs leaving students in a fix, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) may go in for a revision of question paper design at Plus 2 level to make it more subjective. The Board’s Class XII exam scores primarily form the basis for college cut-offs.

Talking to The Tribune today, CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi said the maddening cut-offs were a matter of great concern and it was time for serious introspection on this front.

“These cut-offs are very worrying. The CBSE, state boards and the representatives of higher education institutions must seriously introspect on how to prevent such a scenario. The question paper design needs to be improved. Currently, it is objective. But we need to strike a balance between subjectivity and objectivity to ensure better gradation of our students,” Joshi said, when asked what might have led to cut-offs touching 100 per cent for the BCom Hons stream in some of Delhi’s best colleges.

The matter of cut-offs and review of question paper design at Plus 2 level will be discussed at the forthcoming meeting of COBSE (Council of Boards of School Education in India) in the Capital. The CBSE chief also said every state board should be consulted for any changes in the design because students from across the country apply for admission to DU colleges. Any positive change in this direction, it is believed, would lead to better evaluation of students and more rational cut-offs.

Already, DU Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh has said the CBSE’s high Plus 2 scores for 2011 have led to high cutoffs. As against 200 students, who scored 95 per cent plus aggregate last year, this year, 800 students had this score, forcing colleges to raise cut-offs to tame the rush for admissions.

Former V-C of Delhi University Deepak Paintal, who substantially reformed college education during his tenure, blamed the CBSE’s liberal marking system for the cut-off mess. He questioned the efficacy of the government’s move to make the Class X Boards optional and allowing teachers to do school-based assessments, saying India was not ready for such a model.

“School teachers are under tremendous pressure to pass students; they give liberal marks. Abolishing the Boards is a good idea but common sense tells me it won’t work in India, where colleges have traditionally depended on marks for admissions,” Paintal said.

“Marks of school-leaving exams are the only criteria available to colleges to fix their cut-offs.

That’s why these question papers should represent a mix of difficult and easy questions instead of being all easy. The CBSE must alter the paper design to incorporate some IIT-JEE-level questions,” he added.

Part of the university education reform panel of the government, Paintal added that India needed to evolve other mechanisms for college admissions, including the proposed common entrance aptitude test. “Such a test along with the scores of three CBSE classes (Class X to XII), instead of just one, should be considered for college admissions,” he said.