Mita Mukherjee
The number of higher order and critical thinking questions will be increased in the 2024 ICSE (Class X ) and ISC (Class XII) examinations, the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) said on June 13.
The percentage of these questions will be gradually more in the subsequent years ahead, according to the council.
“ There shall be a small increase in percentage of higher order and critical thinking questions in the Year 2024 ICSE and ISC Examinations. This percentage will progressively increase in the subsequent years ahead. In keeping with this, CISCE will soon be making available to its schools Specimen Question Papers in select subjects for the Examination 2024,” Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of the CISCE said in a circular sent to heads of all council affiliated schools today.
The council chief advised the schools to integrate the new pattern of questions in both formative and summative assessments to prepare students for the upcoming changes.
The council’s decision to bring about the change is in tune with the recommendations of the New Education Policy (NEP), 2020 of the Centre which focuses on introducing higher order thinking questions. The new pattern aims to move beyond rote learning and develop the analytical and thinking skills of students rather than testing their ability to memorize facts. In the new system, students would not be able to answer questions only by recollecting what they learn in the text books. The questions will be designed to measure the students’ abilities to reason and analyse.
In the CISCE circular the council today requested the schools to disseminate the information to teachers, students and parents.
“You are requested to kindly disseminate the above information to all concerned, so that together we may forge ahead in the direction and spirit, as propounded in the NEP 2020 document. We solicit the active support and cooperation of all our schools to assist in fostering a culture of learning that will prepare students for the future,” Arathoon said in the circular.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) too has already introduced higher order thinking questions in the 2023 board examinations and it has announced its decision to have at least 50 percent competency-based questions in the 2024 examinations.
The CISCE said it has taken a number of initiatives to adapt to other changes recommended in the NEP.
It has conducted workshops on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy for teachers of Pre-Nursery to Class III to train them as master trainers, conducted capacity building workshop on strengthening assessments for teachers of Classes IX to XII to train them as master trainers, introduced new vocational and skill-based subjects including artificial intelligence and robotics, cashier, dietetic aid, basic data entry operator and prepared resource material on focus areas of NEP 2020 pertaining to school education, the council said in the circular.
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