After NEP, CISCE likely to change exam details

NEW DELHI: With the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) will be bringing about changes in assessment patterns and question papers from the 2023-24 academic cycle, with an increased emphasis on critical thinking skills.
Senior officials of the council told TOI that for the 2024 board examinations, there will be a small increase in higher order and critical thinking questions in the ICSE and ISC examinations.
Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of CISCE, said, "This will progressively increase in the subsequent years. In keeping with this, CISCE will soon be making available to its schools specimen question papers in select subjects for examination year 2024."
In a circular issued to schools, the council also asked administrations to integrate the new pattern of questions in both formative and summative assessments so as to prepare students for the changes.
"The aim is to expose teachers, students and parents to the expected changes in learning approaches at the initial stages of the students' academic journey. This early exposure will also assist in the right expectations from schools, teachers, students and parents about the upcoming changes in the question papers," Arathoon said.
Capacity building programmes and webinars for faculty will also be carried out on topics like artificial intelligence, financial literacy and so on. Vocationalisation of education, hospitality management, beauty and wellness, foundational literacy and numeracy are some of the other areas that will be covered in the webinars.
Stating that a repository of resources will be created, Arathoon said, "CISCE is presently working to create a repository of resources whose purpose will be to familiarise both teachers and students with assessments that test application, analysis and critical thinking skills. These resources will be shared with schools in an incremental manner and their use defined in alignment with the intended pace of change."
Arathoon further added, "CISCE also plans to gradually familiarise teachers and students with questions that require understanding and application of concepts and critical thinking. These question or item banks may also be used as practice questions in classrooms or schools' internal examinations. The eventual goal is to enable students to go beyond rote learning and memorisation of facts and move towards development of conceptual understanding."
In the circular, the board also said, "CISCE envisages a 'unity of learning' for all its affiliated schools, with a vision for changes that will percolate to the lower classes as well. With the ICSE and ISC examinations as the anchor, CISCE intends to gradually prepare students, starting from middle school, to adapt to the desired changes in the learning ecosystem."