NATION | Thursday, January 28, 2010 | Email | Print |  | Back
Now, Kapil Sibal plans grading system for Class XI & XII
PNS | New Delhi
Having done away with the marks system in Class X, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal now plans to introduce the grading system in Class XI-XII of CBSE schools. A national-level common entrance test for undergraduate studies too seems to be on the anvil.
And since Sibal also wants schools to churn out students with good spoken English skills, he wants the Universities to come forward with specialised modules to train school teachers.
His plans found a ‘consensus’ among a horde of school principals and vice chancellors on Wednesday during his meeting with them “to have a free flow of ideas and better interaction between the school and university systems and to see that each system can cater to the other’s needs”.
The contours of the plans were discussed and will be taken up with the appropriate forums (CBSE, NCERT, NCTE, CABE) for a final decision, a senior HRD Ministry official said.
The introduction of the grading system along with the Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) for Plus Two students is being mulled in view of the “reluctance of some universities to accept grades in lieu of marks in school leaving examination”.
“The National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) has been given a three-month timeframe to prepare an action plan to suggest improvement of teaching of English in schools, which suffer due to lack of expert English teachers in their institutions. Universities can come forward to offer specialised modules for school-level English teachers and their English departments can include communicative and spoken English in their English curriculum and pre-service teachers’ training,” the official said.
One of the most ambitious plans of Sibal is to give school students an ‘exposure’ to college life in ‘advance’ to avoid them the trauma due to the abrupt change in environment at the two levels and to ensure a continuity. “Twinning between every higher secondary school with a nearby college’ is being emphasised.
New educational reforms plan
- Extension of grading system, which starts this year in Class 10 CBSE board exams, to Plus Two level
- Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation, which started in Class 9 last year, to be extended to Classes 11-12
- Improvement in teachers' pre-service training
- Induction of post-graduates as teachers of higher secondary classes and deputing them for training subsequently
- A national level entrance test, like Scholastic Aptitude Test, with national percentile score in different subjects for undergraduate programmes
- A core curriculum at Higher Secondary level for Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Economics, Accountancy, Commerce, IT ‘to provide equal opportunity to all students’
- Universities asked to be flexible on admitting students who opt for a combination of subjects from Science, Humanities, Commerce or Vocational at higher secondary level
- Suitability and desirability of integrated bachelor's degree to be reviewed
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