CBSE may soon start open-book examinations for Classes 9 to 12: Report

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) may soon start taking open-book exams for some subjects in classes 9 to 12, a report by The Indian Express (IE) on Thursday said. It is in line with the recommendations in the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023, and the pilot for this is expected to take place in November and December this year. 

The NCF-SE, released last year, had said, "Open book assessments can go a long way towards reducing anxiety in students. Examinations could provide 'fact sheets' consisting of information, such as formulae, and definitions so that students need not memorise them but use them in actual problem-solving.

Notably, students are allowed to carry notes and textbooks in the exam halls in the open-book exams (OBE).

The IE report added that the pilot run will be done in some schools for Maths, English and Science for Classes 9 and 10. For Classes 11 and 12, the pilot will be undertaken for English, Maths and Biology.

After the assessment of the tests and response by the stakeholders, CBSE will decide if the model should be adopted in all schools in India.

The design of the OBE pilot will be finalised by June this year, and CBSE is taking the help of Delhi University for it. DU adopted OBEs during the Covid-19 pandemic in August 2020. Several students had moved to the Delhi High Court against it, stating that it may be discriminatory for those not having access to infrastructure and the internet.

The OBEs in DU were discontinued in March 2022 after the university completely shifted to the physical mode.

The IE report stated that some members of the CBSE have also suggested that some teachers should take the OBEs first to understand the concept and develop better OBE material and textbooks.