Pass even if 25% marks in one subject

The Central Board of Secondary Education has decided to treat a student securing a minimum of 25 per cent marks in a subject in two assessments in class IX and X to be eligible to take the board examination, provided the average of marks in all five subjects is 33 per cent. It has been also made mandatory that the student take both assessment tests.

This will be enforced in Class IX from the current academic year while it will be extended to students of Class X in the next academic year of 2014-15, says a CBSE circular sent to all affiliated schools on August 8.

The student will have to pass in both the assessments to qualify for promotion to the next class and appearance in the board examination. Under the new summative assessment system introduced since 2010, the student has to appear for the assessment tests twice in an academic year, the first in August-September and the second in February-March. While 40 marks are kept for the internal assessment by the school, the remaining 60 marks are decided through these tests.

Making both the assessment tests mandatory, the circular said any student not able to take the first test due to illness or any other valid reason will get the opportunity of the test before October 31 and the second test to improve the performance within a month of declaration of the results.

Student appearing in sports at a national or international level have a flexibility to skip any of the assessment, but after securing the prior approval of the board.