Bhubaneswar: The school and mass education department is working on drafting a new law to have a single board for both Class 10 and 12 examinations which are currently being held by the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) and Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE), respectively. The commissioner-cum-secretary of the department, N Thirumala Naik, made the announcement during the 44th foundation day celebration of CHSE on Monday.While BSE prepares the curriculum and conducts exams for Class 1 to 10, CHSE is responsible for Class 11 and 12. Chief minister Mohan Charan had in Aug last year, approved the department’s decision to merge BSE and CHSE into one single board to strengthen the school education system.“Efforts are underway to merge them both into a single unified board. The new board will be similar to the Central Board of Secondary Education,” Naik said. He further said that under National Education Policy-2020, priority is being given to designing a new curriculum focused on experiential learning and steps are being taken to prepare reference books in Odia for science stream for helping in competitive exam preparation.The CHSE has been provided Rs 10 crore to develop digital content for helping the students. Vocational education is also receiving focus so that students become skilled in at least one trade after passing Class XII, alongside efforts to strengthen govt vocational higher secondary schools, Naik said. Additionally, Naik stated that the CM has approved for starting Class 12 courses through State Institute of Open Schooling in the coming days.Appreciating the council’s examination management, Naik stated that CHSE has continuously strived to strengthen the foundation of education and expressed that it has brought revolutionary changes in education based on the NEP-2020.On the occasion, the council’s annual souvenir ‘Prajna’ was released and students who won under various categories of games organised by School Games Federation of India were felicitated.
