NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is to make a drastic change in the School examination model.

From 2013, questions to test the problem solving abilities of the students will be included.

The decision has sparked mixed reaction among teachers.    

“This will force children to come out of the rote-learning and test their application and analytical skills,” said Usha Ram, principal, Laxman Public School.

CBSE’s chairman, Vineet Joshi said that the PSA system would evaluate quantitative and qualitative reasoning and incorporate aspects such as creative thinking, decision-making, problem solving and communication.

CBSE will also allot 5% of every major subject, such as English, Hindi, mathematics and physics, on questions pertaining to the cultural, environmental and social ethos of the country.

“Our existing educational system needs to be strengthened to deliver values enshrined in the Constitution. The curriculum needs to assign more weightage to value based questions,” said Ram Shankar, joint director, CBSE.

CBSE also plans to implement the ‘open book testing’ method for classes 10 and 12 from the next academic session.