‘Competency-Based’ Question Papers For Classes 10 & 12 Could Be Rolled Out From 2026-27: NCERT-PARAKH – News18

Last Updated:February 15, 2025, 12:16 IST

School education boards across 27 states have completed training for setting papers according to the new templates

School education boards from 27 states have completed training for setting ‘competency-based’ question paper templates — a new format for setting question papers for classes 10 and 12, which is likely to be introduced from the 2026-27 academic session.

PARAKH, the national assessment centre under the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), has been holding workshops over the last year on ‘Setting Balanced Question Paper for Promoting Equivalence in School State Boards’.

A report released by the Union Ministry of Education (MoE) in August 2024 showed that

a higher number of students from state school boards failed class 10 and 12 exams than those enrolled in central school boards.

These include Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh (MP), Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Uttar Pradesh (UP), Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Goa, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh. In addition to state boards, training was also conducted for the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE), which has over 27,000 schools affiliated with it across the country, including Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalays and private schools.

Training is on for other states.

A teacher from Haryana, who has been part of the equivalence discussions but did not wish to be named, said: “State boards do lag in results, especially in board exams. We must experiment with a different approach to designing the question papers to see if it can actually make a difference.”

PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), a constituent unit of NCERT, is tasked with setting standards and guidelines for student assessment and evaluation for all recognised school boards in India.

The Centre has been focused on standardising all school education boards in line with the new National Education Policy (NEP), 2020.

This assessment system, under the ‘Equivalence of School Board’ initiative, is in line with the NEP, which envisages a competency-based education model.

The list includes several opposition-ruled states as well, which have been largely critical of NEP. Some of these states, including Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, have been in the process of formulating their own state education policies for both school and higher education.

Education is a subject in the concurrent list and hence, states are not bound to follow the Union government directives.

However, officials at the national assessment centre said all these “state boards have been in sync with them on the idea of equivalence”.

According to Prof Indrani Bhaduri, CEO, PARAKH, the series of workshops was intended to standardise question paper templates and enhance the capacity of question paper setters from various boards.

“The workshop trained master trainers in both the theoretical and practical aspects of question paper design, actively involving them in the development process. These trainers are currently training a cadre of specialised teachers in their respective states, who will then be trained in designing quality question paper,” she said.

The workshops, she added, provided a comprehensive understanding of key aspects of educational assessment aligned with NEP on how competency-based education can enhance traditional assessment methods.

“In-depth discussions were held on question paper analysis, identifying areas for improvement in question design. Participants also explored the differences between measurement and evaluation, along with the principles of various evaluation methods, engaged in practical exercises. The workshop concluded by outlining how these practices will be disseminated to other assessment developers across the states,” she said.

In July 2024, PARAKH had come out with the ‘Establishing Equivalence across School Boards’ report, which was then submitted to the Ministry of Education.

One of the major recommendations of the report was that all state school boards develop a cadre of “professional paper setters” to standardise assessment in senior classes.

So far, teachers with 8-10 years of experience set the question papers based on past year’s papers which, Prof Bhaduri said, is not the right way since “for a paper to be balanced, it requires much more understanding, training and technique”.

Currently, only a few boards have some competency-based questions in the papers. For example, CBSE, which has introduced a 10 per cent weightage for such questions for classes 11 and 12. Over the past three years, CBSE has been increasing the weightage of concept-application questions each year by 10 per cent, up to a maximum of 50 per cent.

“Achieving educational equity requires a robust and high-quality assessment system. PARAKH emphasises the need for equivalence across school education boards to enhance assessment standards and ensure fairness. Restructuring assessment methodologies is essential to minimising rote learning and focusing on critical thinking and the evaluation of core competencies. Furthermore, such changes will facilitate student mobility across boards and schools without disadvantaging them due to differing assessment systems,” the PARAKH CEO said.