CISCE pulls back uniform Q papers for classes 9-11

The Council For The Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has put off its proposal for common question papers for class nine and class 11 due to inadequate preparation.

The board had earlier said it would issue a common question paper to schools from 2018 which they should use in holding exams for classes 9 and 11, while they could evaluate the answer sheets themselves.

"In keeping with the Council's vision and endeavor of being constantly progressive and using technology to our advantage, the Council had envisaged to have the Question Papers in select subjects of Classes IX and XI Annual School Examinations made available online to all schools,” it said.

The papers should be downloaded, printed and used by the students in the affiliate schools in India and abroad, the Council said.

Initially, the Council said it would upload question papers for core subjects before the annual exams. But it seems the Council had stumbled on several security concerns.

"For the exercise to be completely confidential, the Council has to put into place various
security measures and ensure a secure environment for all data relating to the Question Papers in encrypted form,” it said.

“Presently the software and technology for the same is
still under development. Once ready, the same will also need to be tested thoroughly to our satisfaction before implementation and actual use by the schools," the board said.

Gayathri, secretary, Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) association said despite the proposal to have a uniform question paper across the country, there was little clarity on how the schools could access the paper.

“We’ve not been informed if this’d be a pilot project or to be implemented across the country,” she said.

The board earlier proposed to synchronize the syllabus with the examination system and familiarize students with the pattern and format of question papers for the board exams. The uniform question paper for classes 9 and 11, the board thought, would offer students a peak into the board exam.

Now, in the place of a common question paper, the board would send a model paper to schools which could be used as a standard while setting questions.

This has also come in the wake of concerns that the schools did not teach the subjects in the prescribed manner.