August 16, 2010

The Central Board of School Education CBSE has decided to hold an optional “Proficiency test” for the students of Class X in June 2011. The test will be voluntary and for those students who clear Class X in March 2011. Soon, a circular will be released to CBSE schools to collect data on the number of the students who wish to apply for the test.

The voluntary test will be based on the new CCE pattern and top institutions of the country like Central Institute of English And Foreign Languages (CIEFL), Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education and Central Hindi Institute have been approached for preparing the question papers.

“After discussion with parents and students from various parts of the country, we realised that there are some students who get motivated only by examinations. Thus for all such students, we will introduce the optional proficiency test, which will be conducted in June and would be voluntary,” said CBSE Chairman Mr. Vineet Joshi.

“The pattern of the test will depend on the number of requests we get. If the number of students opting for this test is not very large, we can go for an online test. Otherwise, we can opt for state-wise or district-wise centralised testing centres,” he added.

The students will not be charged any additional fees for this test. The test would have multiple-choice questions and the students would have the option to take test in just one subject or more subjects. Secondly, the result will declare the students’ percentile instead of percentages.