Three annual board exams for Class 10, 2nd pre-university students to be held in Karnataka

In a major reform, the Karnataka government has decided to hold three annual board exams for Class 10 and 2nd pre-university students, and they can choose the best scores that will make it to their marks cards.

Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Madhu Bangarappa announced this at the government's Teacher's Day event on Tuesday.

The new exam system, which will come into effect this academic year, will reduce stress on students, the government said.

At present, there is one main annual exam followed by a supplementary exam. The new system will do away with the concept of a supplementary exam.

The Karnataka School Examination & Assessment Board (KSEAB) will conduct Exam 1, 2 and 3. This move is aimed at helping students improve their scores.

If a student is not satisfied with her scores in the first exam, she will get to write the second and third attempts to improve. For example, if a student scores 50 in a particular subject and wants to improve, she can write exams 2 or 3 only in that subject.

"This is basically an opportunity for students to improve their performance. The word supplementary itself was negative. Hence, we removed it," Principal Secretary (School Education & Literacy) Ritesh Kumar Singh said.

The government has made it compulsory for regular students to appear for the first exam.

Even if a student writes different subjects in different exams, the best scores from all three exams will be considered while issuing the final marks card. The marks card will not mention the number of attempts.

According to the KSEAB, the current system is stressful and creates anxiety in students. It also pointed out that students lack the option of choosing their best scores in the present system.

"If a student who has passed the II PU examination is not satisfied with the marks obtained in any subject, there is an option to reject the marks obtained in that subject in the annual examination and take up the examination once again. But the marks obtained in the supplementary examination are only considered as the final marks...this system is not student-friendly," the KSEAB explained.

Karnataka's reform is a step ahead of the union government's National Curriculum Framework (NCF) recommendation of introducing two annual exams.