Board Exams: HBSE, CGBSE, 3 others finish question banks under PARAKH equivalence drive; Haryana 1st to upload

Five state boards have completed the development of question banks as part of PARAKH efforts to bring equivalence among different boards across the country. According to PARAKH, the independent assessment body under the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), the Board of School Education, Haryana, is the first one to have completed the process and has even uploaded the question bank.

Chattishgarh Madhyamik Shiksha Mandal (CGBSE), Raipur, is the next to complete the question bank which is currently in the printing process.

A key goal of PARAKH (Performance, Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) has been to bring a uniform standard to all the school examination boards of the country and the question papers they set up.

There are a total of 69 recognised boards in India, including the technical board, the madrassa, the Sanskrit board and open boards.

PARAKH NCERT: Question bank preparation

PARAKH had earlier conducted a study where it highlighted how the boards vary widely in both performance and practice.

In a report titled Establishing Equivalence Across Education Boards released in July last year revealed startling variations in approach and standards across 34 boards it studied.The report had also analysed the boards functioning, their question banks and the difficulty levels of question papers. The difficulty levels did not just vary by the board but also from subject to subject, within the same board. The report had studied 34 boards.

“The equivalence report was released and shared with all the boards. Workshops were held and from each of the 34 boards, five paper setters were sent for training. In the workshops, the paper setters were told to analyse their question papers. I am happy to inform you that five boards have prepared the question banks. For some boards it is in the process of vetting. Several others are in the process of developing their banks,” said Indrani Bhaduri, PARAKH CEO.

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CGBSE, HBSE frontrunners

The Haryana board has introduced what it calls Competency Based Question Booklets for classes 10 and 12.

“This resource has been thoughtfully designed to help you deepen your understanding of key concepts and enhance your problem-solving skills. It includes 50 exemplar questions carefully aligned with the curriculum to familiarise students with the format of Competency-Based Questions. These questions are intended to support targeted practice and develop the skills necessary to confidently approach a variety of question types in assessments,” read the document.

Interestingly, PARAKH’s earlier analysis had the question papers set by the Board of School Education Haryana, Bhiwani (HBSE or BSEH) requiring the most “recall” of information.

While Chattishgarh Madhyamik Shiksha Mandal’s question bank has been vetted and sent for printing, three other states are making steady progress. Board of School Education, Uttarakhand; Nagaland Board of School Education, Kohima; and Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education, have submitted their question banks for experts review by PARAKH officials.

The body had also released guidelines for Setting Balanced Question Papers to promote Equivalence in Assessment Practice of School Boards and enlisted the minimum requirements. It included:

• Preparation of design

• Preparation of a blueprint

• Writing of questions

• Assembling questions in the form of question paper

• Preparing scoring key/marking scheme

• Carrying out question-wise analysis

• Moderation of question paper

UPMSP questions needed ‘most understanding’

As per the details on PARAKH, the Tripura Board of School Education, Board of School Education, Manipur, Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad, Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya Board of School Education and Odisha Board of School Education is yet to begin the process of preparing the question bank.

The report had highlighted that Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UPMSP or UP board) questions demanded the most understanding.

The NCERT PARAKH analysis shows that the Board of Secondary Education Odisha and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) had assigned the largest weightage to easy questions after the Chhattisgarh board – 40% and 38.39%, respectively.

However, the PARAKH dashboard has no details about the progress of the boards in states like Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and even the national boards like Central Board of Secondary Education and CISCE.