CBSE Discontinues Flawed Open-book Exams for Classes IX and XI

After getting negative feedback from different schools about the Open Text Based Assessment (OTBA) for students of class 9 and 11, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has discontinued the exam from the next academic session of 2017.

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Under the examination, students were allowed to carry their textbooks to the examination hall. CBSE Board had introduced OTBA in class 9^th examination for English, Hindi, Science, Mathematics and Social Science and in the class 11^th final examination for subjects like Biology, Economics and Geography from March 2014.

In a press release, the Board said that the objectives with which the OBTA was introduced not met. On the basis of the feedback the board received, the Governing Body Meeting Board has decided to withdraw the OBTA from examination.The board also issued a notification to make Class X board exam compulsory from 2017-18. Right now there are 18,000 schools affiliated to CBSE in India.

Sharing the information, an official of CBSE said that the open text examination allowed the students to carry text materials into the examination hall. They were provided with text materials four months beforehand. Schools were allowed to prepare the question papers out of the CBSE provided text materials and students were required to answer based on those materials. Students were allowed to refer their notes answering question papers. The focus was not on traditional rote learning process but on developing expertise in using critical information.

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The schools did not follow the system properly. Instead of helping the students to develop their critical ability, schools told the students about the questions in advance and students followed that and scored exceptionally well.