Will new CBSE rule bring hope to Gujarat students?

AHMEDABAD: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) recently proposed a radical change in its mathematics examinations from 2020: The syllabus will be divided into a standard and a basic paper. The move is aimed at reducing stress levels among students.




The move has raised the hopes of Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) students, for whom mathematics has long remained an Achilles heel. In the last two examinations, about 30% of students failed in mathematics.

Surender P Sachdeva, principal of DPS Bopal, said the decision was a good one. “The reason is that students who don’t want to pursue mathematics after class X will be able to reduce the stress or the stigma that they aren’t good at the subject if they score low marks in it at the high-school level,” he said.

Experts in Gujarat said that between 1971 and 1993, a similar structure existed before the new education policy changed the syllabus and pedagogy. “Many students don’t want to pursue further education or a career in science. However, as mathematics is a compulsory subject, they have to take the exam.

When they are coming from humble backgrounds, failure once or twice leads them to drop out. The number of such students is higher in Gujarat compared to a few other states,” said Kirit Joshi, a city-based veteran mathematics teacher.

GSHSEB chairman A J Shah said the issue is not under consideration at the moment.

“It’s true that the percentage of students failing in mathematics is high but we have to build consensus for such a decision. We will seek expert opinions as well,” he said.

Sources said that GSHSEB will follow the CBSE pattern, from syllabus to examination, sooner or later.

Thus, there is hope that a similar policy will be implemented for the 7 lakh students who take the GSHSEB class X exam.