Board exams twice a year

New Delhi: Board examinations will be conducted twice a year with students having the option to retain the best score, and Class 11 and 12 students will need to study two languages, of which one must be Indian, Ministry of Education said on Wednesday.

As per new curriculum framework announced by the Ministry of Education, choice of subjects in Class 11 and 12 will not be restricted to streams and students will get flexibility to choose.

Under the guidance of the Kasturirangan Committee, a steering committee has prepared a report on the curriculum framework under the New National Education Policy and submitted it to the government. Confirming this, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the Ministry of Education has handed it over to the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for further action.

NCERT has established two committees -- the National Oversight Committee and the National Syllabus and Textbook Committee -- for the curriculum.

Pradhan said, "We expect both these committees to prepare a syllabus according to the requirements of the 21st century and based on original Indian thinking"

The Education Minister said, "we want them to prepare futuristic teaching and learning material for class 3 to 12. The first orientation meeting took place today.

"We are confident that new textbooks will fulfil all the requirements, especially when the world is expecting a lot from India, when the PM has shown the dream of Amrit Kaal to the nation."