Six-paper pattern for SSC from this academic year

VIJAYAWADA: The State government has decided to introduce six question-paper pattern for SSC Public Exam from the current academic year onwards in line with its plan to introduce the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) syllabus in government schools.

As per the new pattern, Physical Sciences (PS) and Natural Sciences (NS) would be in the same paper, but answer scripts shall be distributed separately. Languages and non-languages shall be assessed with one question paper. Earlier, the students would write 11 papers. Due to the pandemic, an order was issued to conduct SSC exam with seven papers in 2021 and 2022 to reduce strain on students.

The decision to introduce the new pattern was made based on a report, submitted by State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT), elaborating on the pros and cons of continuing the 11-paper system introduced before the Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system. Earlier, there was a practice of evaluating a student in four unit tests and two terminal tests.

To test the student extensively, public exam for Class X students were held with 11 papers and extended to other classes, too.SCERT Director B Pratap Reddy explained that the CBSE has only one paper for each subject with a total of five examinations while the remaining are optional.

Students, parents welcome new SSC exam pattern

“As members of an academic body, we suggested limiting the public exam to six or seven papers to minimise the stress among students,” he added.  Commissioner of School Education S Suresh Kumar submitted the report to the government and requested SCERT to issue orders for the same.  Special Chief Secretary (School Education) B Rajasekhar issued the orders on Monday and said the government had proposed to affiliate government schools with CBSE and prepare the first batch of students to write CBSE public exam in the academic year 2024-25. Hence, they decided to align with CBSE’s six-paper pattern.
Meanwhile, the students and teachers welcomed the government’s latest move.

Municipal Teachers Federation State President S Rama Krishna said the new pattern would reduce exam stress, but pointed out that it may drop students’ scores in Mathematics and Social Sciences.
AP Upadhyaya Sangham State President Ch Sravan Kuman opined that exams for physical and natural sciences should be conducted separately. N Lakshmi, a Class X student from Venkayapalli of  Kurnool district, said six exams instead of 11 will be better for the students.