Jamshedpur, Feb. 26: Aiming to make school education more practical-oriented, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to attribute 20 marks to practical examination in Mathematics, for Class X students, from 2007.

The step comes after CBSE made it mandatory for schools affiliated to it to set up a mathematics laboratory. Several schools in the steel city have already set up these laboratories, after the board introduced it in 2005. But there are others who are still in the process of installing them.

As per the directive, students sitting for the board exam in 2007 will have to answer for 80 marks in the theory paper, instead of the current 100 marks. The respective schools would internally assess their students for the remaining 20 marks, which have been assigned for the practical test.

?The practical paper will include everything from simple topics like finding out the field area to solving 3D concepts, to getting to understand several theorems,? said S.P. Sharma, principal of DAV School, Bistupur, where the laboratory was built in 2005 itself.

He felt, ?Mathematics practicals implies application of mathematical concepts in a day-to-day life. Therefore, students have to be first given an exposure on the usage of the subject in daily life, and later comes the more serious concepts.?

In a fresh directive, the board has set a deadline of March 31 for all schools to complete building the laboratory.

?Though the maths laboratory has already been installed in several schools, the rest of them have to finish the job by the end of March. A cost of Rs 15,000-20,000 would be incurred to set up one such lab,? the principal added.

Initially in a quandary over the modalities of teaching maths practicals, the schools now have decided to prescribe a textbook for it in Class IX, from the next academic session.

?There were no set guidelines last year. Now with the aid of books, teaching will be simpler,? said Chaitali Roy, principal of Bharat Seva Ashram Sanga in Sonari.

In another move to focus on practical knowledge, students appearing for Class X board examination this year are being required to submit a 20-mark project on social sciences (history, civics and geography). These 20 marks have been divided into three parts. While five marks each have been allotted to homework and the given project, the remaining 10 marks would be given on the basis of the continuous assessment tests held in school.

?The board has sent the guidelines to the schools, which state that the marks have to be divided accordingly,? said Sharma. The schoolteachers themselves will have to assess all of them.

The board has also asked schools to introduce Japanese as third language for high school students. However, it is not yet mandatory.