ICSE PLANS BOARD EXAMS FOR CLASS 5 & 8 STUDENTS

KOLKATA: The Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) will conduct board exams for students of Class 5 and Class 8 from 2018, as part of a process to revamp its curriculum and tests.

However, students need not worry as there will be “no pass-fail tags”, said Gerry Arathoon, the board’s chief executive and secretary, on Wednesday.

“It will just be a periodic evaluation exercise to have an idea on the progress of the students’ learning after a particular level.”

The answer scripts will be evaluated by teachers from separate schools, a system adopted for its Class 10 examination. The governmentrecognised private board has also decided to introduce three compulsory subjects — Sanskrit, yoga and performing arts — in its school curriculum. Students from Class 1 to 8 will have to learn yoga and performing arts, while Sanskrit will be taught for four years from Class 5.

The CISCE runs 2,280 schools across the nation and conducts the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) and the Indian School Certificate (ISC) exams for Class 10 and Class 12.

About 175,000 students wrote the ICSE exam this year, while 75,000 took the Class 12 exam.

All schools affiliated to the board will have to follow the overhauled syllabus from nursery to Class 10. The schools had the freedom to decide the syllabi before.

“The new uniform syllabus will be effective from 2018,” Arathoon said.