Now students can choose their exam dates for IGNOU courses

New Delhi, Nov 21

   In a unique move, IGNOU has launched a scheme of 'walk-in-examinations' under which students can decide the date of their exams instead of waiting for completion of the six-month term.

 Under the scheme, students can simply walk into any identified test centres of the university on the prescribed days and take the examination much before the completion of the (six-month) term, an IGNOU spokesperson told reporters, adding, the results will be processed on a monthly basis.

  "Walk-in-examination will give learners the liberty to decide the dates of exams as per their suitability and convenience, thus lowering the exam pressure on them and also bringing down the fail percentage," he said.  The new scheme was launched on the foundation day of the varsity yesterday by university vice chancellor Prof V N Rajasekharan Pillai.

  "The scheme will reduce the possibility of mal-practice in exams as each student will get different set of question papers and the examination will be conducted under camera surveillance," the spokesperson said.  Registration of students, allotment of dates and issue of hall tickets will be done on-line, he said.

  However, he said, initially the walk-in-examination will be conducted only in selected regional centres of the varsity once a week -- on Sunday.  The frequency of such walk-in-exams will be increased thereafter depending on the need, he said.

  The varsity also launched a programme on sustainable science on the foundation day celebration, open to graduates of any discipline.  The appreciation programme on sustainable development has been designed in collaboration with the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation and was launched in the presence of Prof Swaminathan himself at the function.

It HOTS up for students!: Deccan Herald

Bangalore, Feb 11: For the first time, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) students of Class 10 and 12 will take their exams that includes Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) that will put to test, their application skills.

The 2008 examination, which is set on the new curriculum, will have 20 per cent of questions based on HOTS.

Addressing presspersons in Bangalore on Sunday, CBSE Chairman Ashok Ganguly said in HOTS format, students will have to understand and interpret the questions. “It is more of application-based,” he said.

Earlier, the questions were more — Most Of The Same (MOTS) type, which was repetitive and stereotype.

The question paper is designed in such a way that students should be able to answer all the questions within the stipulated time, besides revising them.

This year too, they will be given an additional 15 minutes so that they get sufficient time to read the questions carefully. Internal evaluation in Maths, Social Science and Science subjects and oral testing in languages will be introduced for Class I to X.

A new model on grading system for Class IX and X is in the offing, Mr Ganguly disclosed.

For the first time, CBSE has come out with joint certification for vocational course. The course is Financial Marketing Management, being taken up in 90 schools and which will be certified by NSE and CBSE.

CBSE is also planning to develop many such courses in collaboration with NIFT, NASSCOM for IT-based package course and other organisations including general health care and retail management. All these courses will be supported by the industry.

“We need industry support not only for framing curriculum but also for the transition of curriculum. This is going to be a paradigm shift for Class 11 and 12. One of the reasons for the change is the 11th Plan, which is about universalisation of secondary education,” Mr Ganguly said.

On new subjects for Class 12, he said it will be more skill-based. One of them has already been implemented — creative writing and translation. “Some of the programmes we are planning to introduce are films and media, heritage crafts and others,” he said.

The chairman said the board is thinking of introducing nanotechnology at school-level. “We are thinking whether to introduce in science or as a separate subject,” he added.