Javadekar backs CBSE move to make Class X Board exams a must

Supporting the CBSE governing body's move to make the Class X Board exams compulsory from 2018, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar today said it was discriminatory to allow seven lakh students to opt out of the board exams when nearly two crore others were taking them.
Interacting with journalists here, he said the HRD Ministry will take forward the recommendations made by the CBSE governing body.
He said there are around two crore students across the country who complete their Class X education every year.
Out of these, 1.93 crore students take the exams conducted by different boards, whereas seven lakhs opt out of it. This kind of discrimination is not proper, Javadekar said.

He said that there had been popular demand from many schools, parents and education bodies to have a system where there is board exams for all.
CBSE students at present have the option to choose between Board exams and school-based exams in Class X, but yesterday the CBSE governing body decided to make the Board exams compulsory for all students from academic session 2017-18.

"We will duly consider it and pass it so that from March, 2018 we will have Board examination for all. Because it was an anomaly in a way. You cannot have discrimination like that," Javadekar said.

He also said that the HRD Ministry had circulated a Cabinet note for inter-ministerial consultations to various ministries on the proposed changes in 'No Detention' policy under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.
He said that while it has been decided to introduce exams from Class VI, the HRD Ministry wants a system where the students do not have to waste their entire year.
According to sources, the ministry has proposed that there should be a provision for re-examination in case a student cannot clear the exam in the first attempt so that he or she can be promoted.