Panel Suggests No Multiple Choice Questions For Class 12 Exams

A panel formed by the Government last year which held a meeting of all the state education boards to evaluate the class 12 board exams has come out with their recommendations. The panel has suggested that multiple choice questions be scrapped and the weight age of practicals to theory components in any subject be 30:70. The panel also said that the students should be assessed on a maximum on 100 marks in physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics. They also said that all question papers should have long answer questions, short answer questions and very-short answer questions in the ration 2:4:8. The board has also dismissed considering open book examinations and said that students should be given an additional 15 minutes to read the question paper.

These suggestions came in response to a recommendation from the Human Resource Development Ministry to set up a common question paper pattern for class 12 examinations across all school boards.

The committee was headed by EP Kharbhih, Chairman of Meghalaya State Board and consisted of members like C Arthur W, Chairman of Council of Higher Secondary Education in Manipur, Professor Y Sreekanth of NCERT, KK Chaudhary, CBSE Controller of Examination and Ranganathan, Joint Director, Department of Pre University in Karnataka.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a committee member said that the idea was the make the class 12 performance among students more comparable and one way to do this is with a common question paper.