Noopur Bhandiwad, Pune
Class 11 and 12 students will now have to study 2 languages mandatorily. As per the final National Curriculum Framework introduced by the NCERT on Wednesday, one of the two languages would have to be of native Indian origin. The framework also mentioned that board exams will be held twice a year.
Since the exams won’t be term-wise, students can retain the best score among the two exams. Another addition in the framework stated that students in grades 11 and 12 will not be restricted to choosing subjects among streams like arts, science, and commerce. Still, they will have some flexibility in their choices.
Class 11 and 12 students from CBSE schools study only one language. Therefore, including another language would mean increasing the number of subjects in these classes.
The NCF document further mentioned that the examination will focus on evaluating understanding and competency levels rather than months of coaching and memorization to reduce the difficulty of board exams from the current “high stakes” practice.
Ministry officials revealed to news agency PTI that the new curriculum, as per the New Education Policy (NEP), is prepared, and textbooks will be formulated based on it for the 2023 academic session. The new framework noted that the current practice of ‘covering’ textbooks in the classroom should be avoided and that the cost of textbooks should be optimized.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told news agency ANI, “We are expecting NCERT to prepare futuristic teaching and learning material for classes 3 to 12. The meeting for the first orientation took place today. At a time when the world has placed a lot of expectations on India, we are confident that the new textbooks will fulfill the requirements of the PM’s Amrut Kal dream for the nation.”