Ahmedabad's Std X CBSE students prefer school-based exams

At a time when Std X students of the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) affiliated schools are burning midnight oil preparing hard for the ensuing board exams, their counterparts appearing in Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) exams seems relatively relaxed.

Reason: More than 75% students of CBSE-affiliated school in Ahmedabad have opted for school-based exam when they were asked for their preferences for examination -through board-based exam or school-based exam.  

Of all the schools DNA spoke to, Kendriya Vidyalay in Cantonment area is the only one where 100% students opted for board-based exam. In some other schools, less than 25% students have chosen to undergo the rigours of the board exam and have opted for school-based exam.

In Udgam School, of the total 135 students in standard X, only 53 have opted for board exam; in Delhi Public School (DPS), it’s 25 out of 264 students. In Prakash School, the number is 11 out of 130 and in Maharaja Agrasen, it dwindles down to just 6 out of 140.

A section of teachers said that the reason for choosing board-based exam could be because students do not want to continue in the same board and school. Principal of Maharaja Agrasen School, Shobha Tyagi said that the board exam will help only those students who may have to migrate or switch to other education boards etc. School principals said that majority of the students seem relaxed after they opted for school-based exam.  Unlike previous years, students of CBSE-affiliated schools are not burdened and are not afraid of appearing in the board exam now on. “There is no pressure on students if it is school-based exam. They are familiar with the system. But I have also observed that since they do not have fear of board exams, they have also developed a laid-back attitude. They take studies lightly and their concentration is diverted,” said Kulbhushan Kaain, principal, DPS.