Nearly 45% students opt for CBSE Class X Board Exams in 2014. Figure out why?

CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) in the year 2011, made Class X Board exams optional in order to reduce the stress faced by students. This news was widely applauded and many students opted to undergo school-based examinations, however, two years down the line we find that more and more students are willing to sit through the board exams.

If experts are to be believed this is mainly because of a new mandate issued by the Government last year. As per this order, if a student wants to shift to state board in Class XI then preference would be given to the candidate who has given the CBSE Class X board exam. On the other hand, students who had opted for school-based exams would not be eligible for admission through the single window admission system but would get admitted only if a seat is vacant. However, this decision has been left entirely in the hands of students and parents, the schools have no say in this matter.

CBSE is still considering the decision to write to all the states to recognize and permit school-based examination results for granting admissions to Class XI in state syllabus schools as it is equivalent with CBSE board exams. However, education department officials maintain that they would give preference to students who have appeared for CBSE board exams.

In 2014, a total of 13, 25,627 students have registered for Class X exams. Out of these, 5.96 lakh students have opted to sit for the Class X board exams and the remaining 7.29 lakh will appear for school-based exams.