In a move taken to allow students to take a sigh of relief, the Telangana state government has gone ahead to tweak the current design of the matriculation examinations this year. As a part of it, instead of the existing 11 papers, students will be necessitated to write only 6 papers, dumping the other 5 in view of the pandemic.
The new format is in place for the academic year 2020-2021 where each subject will only have one paper each, corresponding to 6 papers. This refers to the change in marks as well. Students will now be evaluated for 600 marks- 480 marks from board examinations and 120 from internals (average of the 2 tests).
The circular released by the government on Wednesday read, “As part of the new six-question paper pattern, paper-I and paper-II of First Language, English, Mathematics, General Science (Physical Science and Biology) and Social Studies will be merged into a single paper instead of two papers for each subject. There will be no change in the second language paper.”
Apart from this, the government has also increased the duration of the examinations for students of Class X. Instead of 2 hours and 45 minutes, students will now be granted 3 hours and 15 minutes to complete their exam- an increase of 30 mins. As the covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc in the lives of many and forced students to pursue virtual classes this year, they will be given more choices as questions to choose from in every subject’s exam.
The government has also directed officials to set only those questions of the syllabus which form the vital chapters for all 6 subjects. Moreover, answer sheet booklets- 2 separate for Physical Sciences part A and Biological Sciences part B- are also instructed to the officials to be made available.
“There will be no change in the existing weightage of marks i.e. 80 marks for final examination (board exam) and 20 marks for formative assessment for all 6 papers,” the circular said.
However, no change has been seen in the marks valuation of other courses like 03T/04S and 03U/08H, 05A, OSSC courses, and vocational courses. Owing to the peak in the coronavirus pandemic, the government had scrapped the SSC Public Examinations in 2020, furnishing pass certificates to all students based on their internal assessment marks.
