Friday, January 16, 2009

CBSE plans curriculum changes

Schools affiliated to the New Delhi -based Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will soon introduce subjects focusing on adolescence education and peace. The contents are being designed and will be integrated into the curriculum. Emphasis is being laid on integrating peace and value education as well as adolescence education programmes into the curriculum from six grade upwards to expose students at an early age to various social, cultural and religious issues facing the world. It is important to expose children at an early age to gain better perspective on the various issues which are a cause of concern to civilizations.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Healthcare and fashion designing are among the new professional courses in CBSE

Healthcare and fashion designing are among the new professional courses that the CBSE plans to introduce for classes XI and XII. The subjects will be launched with certification from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for healthcare and National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFT) for the fashion design course. Further CBSE has planned to introduce other professional courses for and after Grade-12 on subjects including fashion and garment technology, heritage craft as well as visual and graphics art.The strategy has been appreciated as the it will help students gain practical skills and be capable of success in modern-day fields that are rapidly becoming popular. The basic idea behind introducing the courses is to prepare students, especially from the middle and lower-middle income groups, to meet the growing demand for young professionals in the growing industry.

CBSE has also collaborated with the National Stock Exchange for the joint certificate programme in financial market management. It has tied up with NASSCOM for Information Technology. Further introduction of the other vocational courses include subjects like web technology, biotechnology, multimedia and creative writing which are relevant with modern times.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

CBSE Changes in the exam pattern

The exam pattern for both class X and XII is set to change this year and CBSE says the new paper format will make it easier and faster. The new pattern has more very short answer type questions and lesser marks have been allotted for long answers than was the case earlier, ensuring less subjectivity.

The format change will affect most subjects including Maths, Social Science and Science and Technology for Class X, and Economics, Accountancy, Business Studies, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Maths for Class XII.

In line with the emphasis on testing higher order thinking skills, there will be a compulsory section of one-mark very short answer type questions. "These questions resemble the multiple choice questions (MCQ) pattern and will judge conceptual understanding"

Monday, January 5, 2009

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)

Central board of secondary Education (CBSE) is one of the eminent and widely recognized boards of school education in India. Although CBSE got its present name in 1952, its origin can be traced back to 1921 when the U.P Board of High school and Secondary Education was set up. The importance of CBSE lies in its effort to impart a common education in this land of diverse culture and heritage called India. Thus, it has successfully evolved a common standard for all across the country. Its respect has grown over the years as it is trying to make education relevant to the fast changing world while not compromising on the quality of education in India. One of the finest examples is the introduction of the financial market Management courses which have started from the 2008 academic year

The CBSE prepares the syllabus for Class 9 to Class 12 in schools affiliated with it.It conducts two major examinations every year, the All India Secondary School Examination (AISSE) for Class 10 and the All India Senior School Certificate Examination (AISSCE) for Class 12, which is a school-leaving examination. Many private schools within and outside India are affiliated to CBSE. It also prescribes the syllabi for these examinations, whose scores are necessary to gain admission in higher study institues. The medium for education prescribed by CBSE is either English or Hindi. CBSE All India Senior School Certificate Examination for Class 12 is widely recognised internationally for direct admission to university undergraduate courses

There are a total of 9,689 schools from India and outside India affiliated to CBSE. As a result of the reconstruction, the Delhi Board of Secondary Education was merged with the Central Board and all the educational institutions recognised by the Delhi Board also became a part of the Central Board. Subsequently, all the schools located in the Union Territory of Chandigarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh and the state of Sikkim now have affiliation with the Board. The Board has grown from a group of 309 schools in 1962 to 5119 schools as on 25.9.98, which include 784 kendriya Vidyalayas, 1381 Government Schools, 2486 Independent Schools, 355 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas and 13 Adhoc Schools. There are also Indian schools in the Middle East and Southeast Asia that are affiliated to it.

CBSE also conducts the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) which is a common entrance examination conducted on all-India basis for admission to engineering and architecture/planning programmes in the country. Similarly Pre-medical and Pre-dental Tests AIPMT (PMT/PDT) are conducted for medical and dental colleges.

The CBSE focuses to affiliate institutions for the purpose of examination and raise the academic standards of the country.The prime focus of the Board is on bringing innovations in teaching-learning methodologies by devising students friendly and students centered paradigms. Further in enhancing skill learning by adding job-oriented and job-linked inputs.

The Central Board of Secondary Education has fulfilled this national obligation by providing a uniform curriculum with a flexible scheme of studies suitable to the needs of each and every student irrespective of the fact whether it is a government run school or private school. Notwithstanding the geographical variations, the schools and students under CBSE enjoy and share common privileges as regards the curriculum, examinations and academic innovations.

CBSE helpdesk to the rescue

CBSE also provides counseling services to students and parents during examinations to overcome their anxiety and examination related stress. This CBSE outreach programme is carefully designed keeping the heterogeneity of students population and geographical spread. Multiple modes of communication are used to reach out to more and more examinees during this phase.

CBSE started with its CBSE tele-counselling which are offered by trained counselors and Principals from within CBSE affiliated schools. It is a voluntary free of cost service provided by the participants. Further it is a flexible and mobile service. The counseling services include

* Understanding Stress: Common reactions
* Psychosomatic Symptoms
* High risk behavior: Drug abuse, self harm, aggression
* Handling Suicide

First to be introduced by any Board of Education in the country, CBSE has made a unique effort to provide tele-counseling through Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) mode. This service is available on local dial facilities within Delhi and Mumbai for the subscribers of MTNL. This is run behind a ten digit number 1250 111 102 on MTNL network. For BSNL/Airtel Landline this is run behind a seven digit number 1250 1 02. The detailed list of counsellors is available on the CBSE website: http://cbse.nic.in.