ood news for students. You may no longer need to appear for board examinations!

With exam-related stress primarily in view, the National Curriculum Framework Report 2005 has some novel suggestions:

• Make Class X board tests optional
• De-linking school leaving board examinations from entrance tests
• A single nodal agency to conduct entrance examinations
• Under no circumstances should board or other examinations be conducted at the Class V, VIII or XI levels.

What is more: the Class X examination can be made optional only for those who want to continue to Class XI.

• What do you think can improve the current education system? Let us know!

Other students could receive a certificate from the school, according to the National Council of Education Research and Training, which drew up the draft after a nine-month exercise.

More on the draft:

1. The advantage of de-linking school leaving board examinations from competitive entrance examinations would mean that students would be less stressed if they could take fewer examinations.

2. The stress on pre-board examinations must be reversed.

3. Strategies to enable children to opt for different levels of attainment should be encouraged to overcome the present system of generalised classification into 'pass' and 'fail' categories.

4. Since learning has become a source of burden on children, the draft proposed four guiding principles for curriculum development:

• Connecting knowledge to life outside school
• Ensuring that learning shifts away from having to mug textbooks
• Enriching the curriculum so that it goes beyond textbooks
• Making examinations more flexible

5. A single nodal agency could coordinate the design and conduct the examinations several times a year at centres
located all over the country, monitor and ensure timely conduct and release of students' achievements. 

6. All institutions can access the students' scores through this national testing service for admissions. 

7. Since examination reforms are important to reduce psychological pressure, particularly on children in Class X and XII, the questions could be changed so that reasoning and creative abilities replace rote learning as the basis of evaluation. 

The NCF has also recommended significant changes in school curriculum with a view to making education more relevant to the present day and future needs and to alleviate the stress children are coping with today:

i. Subject boundaries could be softened so that children could get a taste of integrated knowledge.

ii. Students should have many textbooks and material which incorporate local knowledge and traditional skills.

iii. Children must have a stimulating school environment responding to their home and community environments.

iv. There must be a renewed attempt to implement the three-language formula. The child's mother tongue, including tribal languages, must be emphasised as the best medium of instruction. 

This draft will be presented for consideration at the Central Advisory Board of Education on June 7.

What measures do you think can improve the current education system? Let us know!