CBSE to Introduce Open-Book Testing in Board Exams
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) introducing an open-book exam within its class X and XII board assessments is a welcome move. It reflects a fresh, innovative spirit trying to reshape education in India - and creating measures to give students a break.
A quick look at the open-book methodo-logy illustrates why. In this mode,
students are informed of possible topics for testing some months before
their exam. They thus have time to read up thoroughly on these areas and
prepare to answer analytical questions rather than mechanical queries. Such
questions, designed to teach students how to mine material thoroughly,
encourage analytical thought, original perspectives and creative linking of
different sorts of information in examinees' minds. What these cancel out is
rote learning or getting through coursework using guide books that break
subjects into technical question-answer sets, not open fields of knowledge
students learn to navigate with skills and practice.
Open-book testing is decidedly a step in the right direction - one which the CBSE should follow the whole way. For critics who prefer the traditional chants of rote learning, get real. Current data shows rote is doing very little for India's learning.