SHILLONG: Pravin Bakshi, the executive chairman of the Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBoSE), hoped that adoption of NCERT textbooks will help students in preparing for various competitive examinations.
Speaking to The Shillong Times, he said, “We hope that students who will pass Class XII (exams) with the new course of NCERT textbooks will do well in Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) etc.”
He added that MBoSE has taken the issue of textbooks for science and commerce so that there is no shortage of textbooks. “We are trying our best to make sure NCERT textbooks availability is there so all those steps are being taken and notification is out about the syllabus and the subjects.”
On adopting the syllabus, he said steps are being taken and the Board has communicated with CBSE to know about the course of the syllabus. “It is a visionary step taken by the government and we in MBoSE are going all along with it,” he added.
Hoping that new textbooks will be introduced in the 2018-19 session, Bakshi said, “For the 2018-19 session of Class XII, they will finish the old course. This is the first year that we will start with the new course, the CBSE syllabus with NCERT textbooks for the syllabus of 2018-19 for Class XI.” Speaking about the pass percentage that fluctuates every year, he said trends differ from district to district and do not depend on the performance of students.
“In East Khasi Hills students have done well but in some districts may not be very good and some catching up will have to be done such as in some of the districts of Garo Hills… We have seen not many students from Garo Hills made it to the toppers’ list. We hope that next year more efforts will be made for science and commerce in Garo Hills,” Bakshi assured.
According to him, the variation in pass percentage may be due to the difference in the way questions are being set.
“In some years maybe the question paper is set in such a way which fetches more marks and the students do well.”
Meanwhile, principal of St Anthony’s Higher Secondary School, Rev. Fr. Surgit Tigga SDB, welcomed the change of syllabus from MBoSE to CBSE. “They (MBoSE) have taken the decision of having CBSE syllabus and that is better structured and I am quite sure it will help the students not to only have good knowledge or understanding of the subject matter but at the same time to prepare themselves to appear in different competitive exams,” he told reporters after meeting the toppers.
