Cracking the test

Schools should focus on learning, not examinations

Each year, “results season” for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the largest all-India schools exam, grabs newspaper headlines for the progressively stratospheric nature of the grades. This year conformed to that trend. An amazing number of students have scored in the high nineties, or even maxed their papers. This year, for instance, the all-India pass percentage for the Class X was 92.5 with regions such as Thiruvananthapuram recording an astonishing 99.85 (Chennai and Ajmer were but decimal points behind). For Class XII, the total pass percentage appeared saner only by comparison at 83.4 per cent, with Thiruvananthapuram leading