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Most papers in the CBSE board exams will have questions based on values from next year.
Such questions will carry three to five marks in a 100-mark paper.
Citing an example, a teacher in a city CBSE school said students could be asked in a math paper what they would do if they could not solve a problem: try to find out the answer from a classmate or make a guess. Another teacher said the students would have to answer questions testing their morals based on hypothetical situations.
The teachers Metro spoke to were not sure how a question based on values in a chemistry paper will differ from one in an English paper. They also did not know whether there would be textbooks and classes to prepare students to answer such questions.
“Questions based on values will be introduced in English, Hindi, mathematics, biology, physics, chemistry, accountancy, history, geography, business studies, entrepreneurship and economics papers,” said Rita Chatterjee, the principal of Apeejay schools, a chain of CBSE institutions.
Currently, moral science is taught as a subject in CBSE schools from classes I to VIII.
A source in the board said the schools had been asked to start teaching students in classes IX and XI how to answer questions based on values.
“We have to incorporate the questions in the annual exams to prepare students for the boards,” said Anindita Chatterjee, the principal of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, a CBSE school in Salt Lake.
According to Rita Chatterjee, the board is bringing about this change to promote holistic education.
The teacher who gave the example of a question based on values in a math paper said the board’s aim was to know the intention of the students.
City CBSE teachers were divided about the move. “A lot of factors shape the values of a student. I do not think we can make students better human beings by merely asking them questions on morality,” said a teacher at a CBSE school in south Calcutta.
A teacher at a Kendriya Vidyalaya in Salt Lake welcomed the move. “At a time when moral values are getting eroded, inclusion of value-based questions in exams will help in making students better citizens.”
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