Reams of paper have already been devoted to the debate on whether eradicating the Class X Boards is a good idea, and making the 10th boards optional help make any difference to the education system in India. Will having a single Board through out the country help homogenising the education culture, and will the states agree to the proposal? Certain voices have starting coming in from various states in the country.

Amid all the hoopla, is the average Delhi student excited? Is he/she happy about Sibal’s proposal? Educational experts, principals have all weighed the pros and cons of having the system. A student is, however, lost somewhere in the debate. Quest takes a look at all the sides of the debate and brings to you a student’s perspective.

Days after Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal called for making the Class X Boards optional and setting up of an alternative evaluation system based on percentiles rather than percentages, the move was revered and reviled in equal measure by different quarters.

While on one hand, a section welcomed the minister’s move, on the other there were apprehensions raised by various schools, educational experts and policy makers.

Even as Kapil Sibal proposed one board for the entire country, there was speculation about the implementation of this plan. There was also confusion regarding the autonomy of the private schools.

“The minister has not made a clear-cut policy on how much autonomy will be given to the schools,” said Vandana Puri, Principal, Salvan Public School, Karol Bagh. The issue of who will be giving percentiles to students, whether it will be the CBSE or the schools has not been made clear by the minister either.

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