Amid the Covid-19 pandemic and uncertainty surrounding the board exams for the past two years, the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) has changed the way it holds the Plus 2 examination in Odisha by bringing in a major overhaul in the pattern.
The Council's move has evoked mixed reactions among students in the State.
The State government has planned to conduct board examinations both in first year and second year and introduce internal tests for the students. The CHSE has decided to introduce internal examination system for first and second-year students. The board will monitor the examinations and tests to ensure transparency.
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The college authorities will have to upload the marks of the students on the website of the CHSE. A database on the performance of students will also be maintained.
These initiatives will help the Council to assess students and publish their results even if their examinations could not be conducted in future due to any pandemic like situation.
“The government has decided to introduce assessment system twice a year. If any pandemic-like situation arises in future, we will not face any problem in evaluating the performance of students and publishing their results. Its a very good initiative taken by the government,” said Tusharkanti Tripathy, the Vice-Chairman of CHSE.
While some of the students were in favour of the move wholeheartedly, many others expressed their doubts over the successful implementation of the new pattern.
“It will be of tremendous satisfaction for the students if evaluation are carried out on the basis of Plus 2 internal examination results rather than 10th class marks incase of a pandemic like situation. It’s a very good move by the CHSE,” said Bijaylaxmi Biswal, a Plus 2 student.
However, Digbijay Ghosh, who is also another Plus 2 student, felt that students of private colleges will take much more advantages due to the new pattern of examination.
“Students in the private colleges will be given more marks in the internal examinations by their teachers and they will be in an advantageous positions than the government college students. The government should ensure that no college would take any undue advantage of the internal examinations because of the new pattern,” said Ghosh.
However, most of the academicians have given their thumbs up to the changed pattern.
“Last time the government was forced to evaluate the performance of Plus 2 students on the basis of their matriculation results as it was helpless due to the unprecedented situation arising out of the pandemic. But, on the basis of the new examination pattern, the government will be in a better position to judge the performances of the students which will be evaluated on the basis of their internal examination results,” said Suresh Chandra Mishra, an educationist.
"Though CHSE has been mulling over conducting two annual board examinations for Plus 2 students for quiet some years, it is yet to materialise. Due to the lack of vision by the Board, the performance of the Plus 2 students were evaluated on the basis of their 10th class performances this year in view of the pandemic. In this backdrop, serious question mark has been raised over the successful implementation of the new pattern of the examination in the current academic year," he said