– Mita Mukherjee

The Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) on Friday informed the heads of all ISC schools that students appearing in the 2021 ISC examinations will be tested on 20-marks compulsory project work in Indian languages and some other subjects. . 

The new subjects in which project works are to be introduced  are Indian languages, Elective English, Classical language (Arabic, Sanskrit, Persian) Modern Foreign Languages, Electricity & Electronics, Engineering Science, Geometrical and Mechanical Drawing, Geometrical and Building Drawing.

Indian languages include Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Malayalam, Tamil, Telegu, Kannada, Odia, Gujarati, Punjabi, and other languages which students choose as second language paper for the ISC course.

The CISCE  has asked schools to inform the students about the new decision and also requested the heads to ensure that the students completed the project works on time.

The schools have been asked by the council to immediately inform the topics of the project works in the subjects to the students and offer them proper guidance so that they are able to complete the works on time.

Till the 2020, ISC students were tested on full 100 marks in theory in these subjects. The theory paper will now be of 80 marks.

The ISC examinations are usually held in February-March. The council has recently announced that the school-leaving examination will be delayed this time because of the pandemic.

The council had earlier announced that students appearing in the 2022 ISC examinations will be the first batch to be tested on the compulsory 20-marks project work in Indian languages..

According to the heads of some ISC schools in Kolkata, the council decided to bring forward the introduction of project work in the second language to reduce the  load of students.

 “ The CISCE is a student-friendly board. The introduction of the 20-mark project work in all the Indian languages has been brought forward considering the interest of students. The project work will reduce the pressure on students. They will be given sufficient time to complete the project work properly,” Sujoy Biswas, principal of Ram Mohan Mission High School in Kolkata said.

 “Sample question papers for the above subjects for the ISC Year 2021 Examination will be shared  with schools shortly. Heads of schools are requested to inform all concerned regarding this change and ensure timely completion of Project Work  for the above subjects,” Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of CISCE wrote in the letter to all the heads of ISC schools today.

Students appearing in ISC in 2021 will also be the first batch to be tested on 20-marks compulsory project work in English language, English literature and mathematics. This was announced by the council  this year. 

Till 2020 the ISC English language, English literature and mathematics papers were of 100-marks each.

The council had decided to allot 20-marks project work in mathematics to ensure that students learnt the application of the mathematical theories taught to them in schools.

The compulsory project work in English was introduced with an aim to make the subject more scoring and ensure students understood the subject better.   

Project works had been introduced for ISC students in arts subjects like history, political science, economics, commerce and in the science subjects a few years ago.

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