New CBSE norms: Board exam is back, test for principals, three languages until Class X

All three decisions need the final stamp of approval from the HRD Ministry, said sources.

Written by Mallica Joshi , Ritika Chopra | New Delhi | Updated: December 21, 2016 9:35 am

Currently, it is optional for CBSE students to choose either the Board exam or a school-based examination. Over 18,000 schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will have to implement the three-language formula up to Class X, the Board’s Governing Body resolved on Tuesday. Currently, schools are meant to follow this up to Class VIII.

CBSE’s highest decision-making body, which met for close to four hours, also decided to make Board examination compulsory for Class X students from 2018 and introduce an eligibility test for principals of all its schools. All three decisions need the final stamp of approval from the HRD Ministry, said sources. CBSE chairman R K Chaturvedi was unreachable for comment.

Under the National Education Policy, the three-language formula means students in Hindi-speaking states should learn a modern Indian language, apart from Hindi and English and, in non-Hindi-speaking states, they should learn Hindi along with the regional language and English.

However, a majority of the 18,000 affiliated institutions offer the mother tongue or Hindi, English and a foreign language such as German and Mandarin up to Class VIII. According to Governing Body (GB) members, who spoke to The Indian Express on the condition of anonymity, all schools will not only have to implement the three-language formula in letter and spirit, but also extend it up to Class X. A directive, with finer details and timing of implementation, will be issued to schools as soon as the move is ratified by the government.
 
The decision comes almost two years after the HRD Ministry, under Smriti Irani’s leadership, forced Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) to discontinue teaching of German as a third language in Classes VI to VIII on the ground that it violates the three-language formula. KVs were directed to replace it with Sanskrit or any modern Indian language. German is still taught, but as a hobby/additional language.

“The National Education Policy and NCERT’s National Curriculum Framework clearly suggest that the three-language formula should be implemented in secondary education and, hence, the decision is in line with that. Private schools currently offering foreign languages will have to treat it as a fourth language, but the three-language formula has to be followed strictly,” said a GB member, when asked about the rationale behind the move.




The decision to make Class X Board exams mandatory again has been taken five years after former HRD Minister Kapil Sibal had nudged CBSE into making it optional. Sources said CBSE has decided that all schools will conduct two tests and a half-yearly exam in Class X.


The final examination will be conducted by the Board. The Board exam will carry 80 per cent weight and a student’s performance in school tests will account for 20 per cent. “The student will have to secure pass marks in both school and board exams separately to get promoted to Class XII,” said another GB member.
It’s not clear at this moment if the third language, which will introduced in Class IX and X as a consequence of Tuesday’s decision, will be tested in the Board exam.

Class X Board exams were made optional in 2011 after educationists objected to the stress associated with it. This was replaced with Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation or CCE. Students, however, could opt for board exams if they wanted.
 
About 20 per cent of the students chose the Board exam in 2011 and 2012. This figure increased gradually after it was made clear that students who wanted to change their school Board after Class X would have to take exams. In 2016, more than 40 per cent students opted for the Board exams.
“The UPA government had expected that other state education boards will follow CBSE’s example, but that didn’t happen. Over the last few months, CBSE and HRD Ministry have met teachers and principals from across the country to get their feedback on Boards and CCE.

The overwhelming support was for the return of exams,” said a member. A meeting of about 300 school principals was held in Mata Sundari College last week to discuss the change and seek feedback.

CBSE’s governing body also resolved that principals of all CBSE schools will have to pass an eligiblity test. “We’ve noticed that wives and relatives of the schools owner/owners end up becoming principals. That’s not the ideal qualification to head a school. So CBSE will design a test on the lines of the Central Teacher Eligibility Test for principals too which they have to pass,” said a GB member.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/education/new-cbse-norms-board-exam-is-back-test-for-principals-three-languages-until-class-x-high-school-hrd-4437967/

CBSE wants smart cards for all students

Manash Pratim Gohain | TNN | Updated: Dec 19, 2016, 02.51 AM IST

NEW DELHI: After making payment of school fees and teachers' salary cashless, CBSE has advised schools to inculcate habit of cashless transaction among students by introducing smart cards in canteens and tuck-shops. The schools have also been asked to use activity weeks to push digital payment and task each student to promote the same at home and among at least 10 outsiders.

On December 7, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) convened a meeting of 350 nodal schools and deliberated on how to make the schools completely cashless. Three days later, it issued a circular on staff payment through bank transfer and payment of fees only through "non-cash" mode.

The meeting also discussed the issue of inspiring students to go cashless. "The schools are now being asked to sensitise students on cashless transaction and how to keep it safe. However, it's an advisory," said a senior CBSE official. "Students' involvement will make promoting cashless transaction easier."

The board is going to allow e-wallets like SBI Buddy and Paytm for its competitive exams. It will also do away with the challan mode of payment for affiliation from January when the new cycle starts. All payments will be accepted through debit/credit cards or net banking.

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, too, has decided to train students from Class IX onwards and teachers on various cashless modes of payment and use services of Scouts and Guides to educate various sections of society. A circular regarding this financial literacy drive has already been sent to its regional offices. Experts from local banks/financial institutions and postgraduate teachers in computers, commerce and economics will hold these sessions.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/CBSE-wants-smart-cards-for-all-students/articleshow/56054326.cms
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Pvt schools pip govt's in number of teachers

Pvt schools pip govt's in number of teachers

Hemali Chhapia | Mumbai:





`But Do High Fees Translate Into Quality?' 

 

For long, the state was the largest recruiter of teachers. Today , private schools have leaped ahead and hire more faculty across Maharashtra, whether in Pune or Parbhani, Nagpur or Nandurbar.

 

The appeal for the English language, surge in private schools and a cap on government recruitment, has seen the private sector's staff strength balloon. Maharashtra currently has 3.8 lakh teachers in the kindergarten-to-Class XII (K-12) category in the private sector and 2.7 lakh in its state schools.

“There is a little more margin for everything in private schools. We call that essential freedom,“ says Naina Pathak who works for a private school in Ahmadnagar. Merely 10 districts, including suburban Mumbai, Osmanabad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Yavatmal, Jalna, Hingoli, Gondiya, Gadchiroli and Buldana, have more teachers in state schools--corporation and zilla parishad--than in private institutes.

Pune has the highest count of teachers--51,639--of whom 34,621 are in private schools.Experts say this phenomenon isn't restricted to this state.Across India, shrinking enrollment in government schools has seen fewer teachers being hired and 17% schools across the nation have just single teachers. “There is multi-grade or grade-less teaching in 75% schools. The number of teachers does not correspond with the student count,“ says a Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) committee member.

Educationist J M Abhayankar says ban on recruitment since 2012 has seen several vacancies pile up in government schools. “Every year an average of 3% vacancies comes up.So in the past six years, 1.2 lakh posts needed to be filled, but were not.“ Another August 2015 government resolution curtailed the number of teachers per school. One teacher was needed for every 35 children.

“So, earlier for a minimum strength of 15 or 20 kids in each of Classes V , VI and VII, there were four teachers. But now even if there are 69 students, just one teacher is assigned. Only when the student strength touches 70 does the state grant the second faculty ,“ says Abhayankar.

“Most developed nations have a strong public education system and a majority of children in those nations are in public schools. We have made a constitutional commitment to provide quality universal edu cation to our children. Especially in a nation like India where close to 70% of the population has an income of less than Rs 3,000 per month, a public school is the only viable option, says Dileep Ranjekar, CEO, Azim Premji Foundation. “However, over the past 20 years or so, `Brand Government School' has taken a severe beating. Several factors such as poor quality infrastructure, non-adherence to committed teacherpupil ratio and qualitative and quantitative weakening of supporting institutions such as DIET have contributed to brand erosion.“

Ranjekar says, “Several studies have established the learning levels in private and public schools are similar (if at all, government school learning levels are marginally better)--so migration of such a large percentage of children to private schools is not well explained.“

Meanwhile, international and private schools grow at break-neck speed, hiring more teachers, charging up classrooms and laughing all the way to the bank, whether in Wardha or Washim.

Dec 14 2016 : The Times of India (NaviMumbai)

 

Source : http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31840&articlexml=Pvt-schools-pip-govts-in-number-of-teachers-14122016004028





India’s school emergency

India’s school emergency: Rajasthan’s campaign to fix schools will create prosperity and equality of opportunity

December 14, 2016, 2:00 am IST Vasundhara Raje in TOI Edit Page | Edit Page, India | TOI

Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges created a character called Pierre Menard who decides to rewrite Cervantes’s Don Quixote. After great effort, Menard’s revision ends up being word-for-word identical to the original. However, 300 years of history and literature have passed since Don Quixote, including the novel itself. Although Menard’s words are the same, his meaning is now entirely different.
 
This wonderful story applies to school education policy. Learning, teaching, management, governance and feedback are the same words but they now mean different things.
 
India needs to re-imagine school education because rote learning is less important in a world of always-on internet and education needs to target the International Baccalaureate curriculum learner profile; curious, confident, risk taker, team player, communicator, reflective, etc. I guess this validates poet William Butler Yeats who wrote “education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire”.

This transition is complicated by massive change in the world of work where automation means that reading, writing, arithmetic and soft skills are becoming the most important employability skills. India has licked the quantity problem; Class 10 is the new Class 8 and soon Class 12 will be the new Class 10 for lazy employer job filtering.

All these changes make teachers and their training even more important. We know that technology matters in education but we don’t know how. Even though we are probably a few iterations away from the full impact of e-learning, it’s important to keep an eye on the horizon.

The 2016 Olympic silver medallist in javelin was Julius Yego, a Kenyan who taught himself how to throw by watching YouTube videos. All governments talk about physical infrastructure but any politician can tell you that schools as “infrastructure of opportunity” are top of mind for citizens and voters.
 

 Most past policy interventions – including in Rajasthan where we have 18 million children who should be in school of which 90% go to school – have focused on the three important inputs of teacher qualifications, teacher salaries and class sizes. While these continue to be important, research is iffy about their contribution to learning outcomes and suggests moving to more difficult, fundamental issues like governance.

Determined to make the public school system deliver on its promise to children, Rajasthan put together a three step transformation plan: building management capabilities, strengthening governance structures and ensuring continuous feedback. The first involved a focus on school integration in each Panchayat for grades 1-12 called Adarsh schools and for grades 1-8 called Utkrisht schools with improved infrastructure, full staffing, and a focus on school monitoring by devising information and communication systems for inter-department and department to field alignment.

This move has ensured higher utilisation of resources, better supervision of schools and greater accountability of staff.

The second involved quarterly state wide reviews, district wise bi-monthly reviews and monthly meetings at schools, resulting in continuous performance monitoring. The third involved using social media for feedback, IT for fund utilisation and peer review for teachers that included sustained training of all personnel from the bottom up.

This is showing results; the class 10 board exam pass rate has improved from 58% to 72% in government schools and in Class 12 arts, the government school pass rate is higher than that of private schools.

Teaching vacancies have been reduced by 35% (from 60% to 25%) with over 1 lakh teachers promoted or transferred via a new and transparent counselling process. The most important metric, community faith in public education, is reflected in the increase of government school enrollment by 90 lakh in the last three years. A recent state wide parent-teacher meeting recorded 70% parent attendance.
Community generosity in cash and kind donations to local schools has helped fill resource and infrastructure gaps. While I am delighted about the buzz in education policy makers, schools and parents, I realise that much work is yet to be done.

India is in a school emergency because 10 lakh young people will join the labour force every month for 10 years and many of them will not have the ability to earn living wages because their school let them down. Many vested interests would like to perpetuate the current low-level equilibrium of our schools, but the status quo can be broken with political will, community support, transparency, communication, measurement, and much else.

The Centre has begun to help states with the recent decision to devolve some decisions and remove a focus on inputs under the overly centralised Right to Education Act that fights yesterday’s war of enrollment.
I read recently that private prisons are a huge growth industry in America and they have found that the best predictor of future growth – how many cells and prisoners are going to be needed in which area in 15 years – is a simple algorithm based on asking what percentage of 11 year olds can’t read. You can’t say that a literate society has no criminality but they seem to have found a real correlation. Every society has a different context but I will submit that a similar metric – what percentage of our 11 year olds can read – is the best predictor of India’s sustained prosperity and equality of opportunity.

 

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own. 

 

Source: http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-edit-page/indias-school-emergency-rajasthans-campaign-to-fix-schools-will-create-prosperity-and-equality-of-opportunity/

Ambiguity in NEET syllabus confuses students

The NEET website mentions that students have to also study from the ‘common state board syllabus’. There is no common syllabus across state boards of our country. So, what do our children study? SUDHA SHENOY, parent

MUMBAI: Though the state’s decision to conduct admissions to health science courses based on National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) scores has received a positive response from medical aspirants, there seems to be a larger problem.
The candidates will still have to study the Maharashtra state board syllabus as well as the curriculum followed by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for NEET 2017. This has not gone down well with many.
“We had requested the state to either upgrade their syllabus to the national level or get exemption from NEET. Since the Supreme Court did not grant exemption, the least the government could do is focus on making preparation for the entrance exam easier for students,” said Subhash Joshi, a professor from a city-based coaching institute.
He added that students are spending more time looking for books by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) than focusing on the upcoming HSC examinations.

Even though medical aspirants no more need to appear for two separate entrance examinations for health science courses, parents have highlighted the ambiguity surrounding NEET 2017.
“The NEET website mentions that students have to depend on the NCERT syllabus as well as study the ‘common state board syllabus’. There is no common syllabus across state boards of our country. So, what do children study?” said Sudha Shenoy, a parent.
Most coaching institutes depend on NCERT textbooks as more than 70% of the examination will be based on the syllabus.
“My students are anxious as there is a lot of difference between the two curriculums. Many end up staying back for several hours to understand whatever problems they cannot solve from NCERT textbooks,” said a professor from a city-based coaching institute.

13 Dec 2016 | Mumbai | HT Correspondent htmetro@hindustantimes.com n 

Source: http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

CBSE schools pick Narendra Modi path, set to go cashless from January 2017

All CBSE-affiliated schools will opt for digital mode of transactions from January, 2017.

By: FE Online | New Delhi | Updated: December 13, 2016 11:16 AM

 All CBSE-affiliated schools will opt for digital mode of transactions from January, 2017. (PTI)

In the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for a cashless economy, all CBSE-affiliated schools will opt for digital mode of transactions from January, 2017. CBSE-affiliated schools across will stop accepting fees in cash. Institutions will only accept e-payments. Apart form this, staff’s salaries will not be paid in cash.

This move will be a boost for PM Modi’s ‘digital India’ dream. Earlier, PM Narendra Modi had directed his senior ministers to enlighten the people about merits of using e-wallets and other digital payment methods. The renewed push to make India less reliant on hard currencies came a day after the Prime Minister exhorted the people to use debit cards and other digital payments while purchasing essential items.

According to government sources, the Prime Minister asked his ministers to start the promotion of cashless economy with their own staffs followed by their Ministry and then constituency to appeal to larger masses. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also spoke to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar amongst the others to form a sub-committee to give impetus to a cashless economy.

In the 26th edition of Mann KI Baat programme, Prime Minister Modi said, “I know cashless economy is different. Why not move towards a cashless society? Need your physical support in this. I took this decision for the country’s poor, farmer, labour, deprived and for those who are suffering. I reiterate that I need your support; I am positive that you will help me in this; take a pledge that you will be a part of this cashless economy.”

Speaking about the demonetisation drive and its impact on the path of a cashless economy, PM Modi had said that Indian had a historic opportunity to embrace the increased cashless payments and integrate the latest technology in the economic transactions.

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/cbse-schools-pick-narendra-modi-path-set-to-go-cashless-from-january-2017/472548/
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CBSE STUDENTS CAN ACCESS DOCUS ONLINE

MUMBAI: From now, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) students can find their marksheets, pass and migration certificates at the click of a button. The CBSE launched its digital academic repository, Parinam Manjusha, last week. It can be used by employers and educational institutions students to verify academic records and by students to access their certificates.

The repository has been developed by the board in collaboration with NEGD (DigiLocker) and is available at https:// cbse.digitallocker.gov.in
 

Users need to register on the website and can check the applicants’ certificates after paying the verification fee online. The documents will be sent to the employer through mail and the applicant will be notified.
“It will save students the hassle of acquiring certificates through offices,” said Deepshikha Srivastava, principal, Rajhans Vidyalaya, Andheri.

• 30 Nov 2016 | Mumbai | HT Correspondent htmetro@hindustantimes.com

Source: http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx#

CBSE schools get more time to declare details

(Representative image)

INDORE: The Central Board of Secondary Education extended the deadline for the mandatory disclosure of school details till December 15. Earlier, more than 110 CBSE schools in Indore district were expected to submit the mandatory disclosure by November 30.

The association of unaided CBSE schools in the city had requested the CBSE to extend this deadline, after which it was extended till November 30. "Over 60 to 70% schools have submitted the details, but there are few schools that were not able to provide details due to the lack of documents and other reasons," said Jaydeb Kar, CBSE helpline member from the state.

"The board has accepted the request of such schools and extended the deadline. But after this, if schools can't submit details within the deadline, they will get a notice from the board," added Kar. "It is important that schools submit the details as per the deadline set by the board. I don't think it's correct on the part of schools to request the board to extend the deadline again and again. However, exceptions might be there with genuine reasons," said a school principal from the city.

The board had earlier issued an advisory to its affiliated schools, asking them to share the fee structure along with details of all the facilities they provide by or before October 31.

Under the mandatory disclosure, the CBSE has asked for an expansive list which includes infrastructural details

 TNN | Updated: Dec 3, 2016, 10.55 AM IST
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/indore/CBSE-schools-get-more-time-to-declare-details/articleshow/55766747.cms 

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