In a major relief to CBSE’s class X students, the board on Tuesday relaxed the mandatory requirement to pass the exam.
In a last-minute decision, the board exempted class X students from the mandatory requirement of separately securing a minimum of 33% marks in each of the five subjects in the school-based assessment and the board examinations in order to be declared passed.
The relaxation was granted for this year’s class X board examinations only in view of the students of the 2017-18 batch who are appearing in the board examination for the first time.
The examination is scheduled to begin from March 5.
“They need to secure overall 33% (school-based and board examination taken together) in the subjects to be able to pass that subject,” said Anita Karwal, CBSE chairperson.
As a “one-time measure,” the class X students to be taking board examinations this year are also exempted from mandatory separate pass criteria norms in additional subjects, provided these subjects comprises of internal assessment of 20 marks and the board examinations of 80 marks, she added
In a notification issued on January 31 last year, the board had made it mandatory for all Class X students to separately secure a minimum 33% score in each of their subjects in the internal examination – to be conducted by the schools at their level – and the board examinations, to be held by the CBSE.
According to the scheme, the CBSE will conduct the examinations for a total of 80 marks in each subject while the respective schools will hold an internal assessment for the remaining 20 marks.
The examination committee of the CBSE at its meeting on February 16 resolved to exempt class X board examination students from the minimum pass marks criteria, considering “the circumstances and the fact that the current batch of class X is coming from a different assessment background,” the CBSE chairperson said.
The mandatory separate passing criteria will, however, continue to apply for: Home Science, Foundation of Information Technology, Information and Communication Technology, Elements of Business, Elements of Book Keeping and Accountancy, e-publishing and e-office, Painting, Carnatic Music, Hindustani Music and NCC. (DH)
