The Karnataka government is planning to introduce centralised annual exams for classes 9 and 11. The exams will be set by the Karnataka State Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB), and the evaluation will be conducted at the school and taluk levels.
Centralised Annual Exams: The Department of School Education and Literacy, Karnataka is expected to initiate centralised annual exams for classes 9 and 11 for state board-affiliated schools from this academic year. If the plan is implemented, Karnataka will possess a centralised annual examination for classes 5, 8, 9, and 11 in which the question papers would be set by the Karnataka State Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB), and the evaluation would be conducted at the school and taluk levels.
The proposal will be submitted to School Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa and the government for final approval. The decision to introduce centralized annual examinations for classes 9 and 11 is intended to prepare students for the SSLC (10th) and second PUC (12th) board examinations, which are scheduled for next year. Additionally, the school education department wants to improve learning outcomes in high school, which have been declining according to several assessment reports.
Centralised Annual Exams to Prepare Students for Upcoming Boards
Talking about the new plan, the Principal secretary of the school education department, Ritesh Kumar Singh, said “First of all this is not a board examination. The plan to introduce centralised examination for classes 9 and 11 is one of the many examination reforms being discussed in the interest of the students. This proposal is well thought out, student-friendly, and learning outcome-friendly.”
“This is not to overburden the students with examinations but to improve their learning outcomes so that he/she can face board examinations with confidence. We felt the summative assessment at the school level is not delivering the required results and not improving the learning outcome of students significantly. This reform may at least improve their performance in a graded manner, he added.
‘No Detention Policy’ for Class 9, 11 Students Even If They Fail
The Education Department is keen on centralising the process to reduce the learning gap among high school students. Meanwhile, like the class 5 and 8th classes, there will be no ‘detention policy’ for class 9 and 11 students if the student fails to qualify for the exam.
In his words, “In the case of class 5 and 8 examination, we have submitted in the Karnataka High Court that we would not detain the students. The same applies to this examination. The only difference here is, the question paper comes from the board. Since this is also the first time, we still don’t have any benchmark to decide the difficulty level of the question paper. We have time and we can introduce it in this academic year. But no substantial decision has been taken yet.”