New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday said that academic session 2021-22 of class 10th and 12th will be divided into two terms with approximately 50 per cent syllabus in each term and exams will be conducted at the end of each term on the basis of the bifurcated syllabus.

The syllabus for board examination 2021-22 will be rationalized similar to that of the last academic session to be notified in July 2021, a CBSE circular said. It said that COVID-19 pandemic caused almost all CBSE schools to function in a virtual mode for the most part of the academic session 2020-21.

“The syllabus for the academic session 2021-22 will be divided into two terms by following a systemic approach by looking into interconnectivity of concepts and topics by the subjects experts and the board will conduct examinations at the end of each term on the basis of the bifurcated syllabus,” the notification said.

The board said that the step has been taken to increase the probability of having a Board conducted classes 10 and 12 examinations at the end of the academic session.

“The syllabus will also be rationalized for the Board examination of the academic year 2021-22. For academic transactions, however, schools will follow the curriculum and syllabus released by the Board vide Circular no. F.1001/CBSE Acad/Curriculum/2021 dated 31 March 2021. Schools will also use alternative academic calendars and inputs from the NCERT on transacting the curriculum,” the circular said.

On details of curriculum transaction, CBSE said that the schools will continue teaching in the distance mode till the authorities permit an in-person mode of teaching in the schools.

Referring to classes 9 and 10, CBSE said “internal assessment (throughout the year irrespective Term 1 and II) would include three periodic tests, students enrichment portfolio and practical work/ speaking listening activities project.”

Referring to Class 11 and 12, the CBSE said “internal assessment (throughout the year irrespective Term 1 and II) would include end of the topic or unit tests exploratory activities/ practicals/ projects”.

“Schools would create a student profile for all assessments undertaken over the year and retain evidences in digital format. CBSE will facilitate schools to upload marks of internal assessment on the CBSE IT platform. Guidelines for internal assessment for all subjects will also be released along with the rationalised term-wise divided syllabus for the session 2021-22. The Board would also provide additional resources like sample assessments question banks, teacher training etc for more reliable and valid internal assessments,” the circular added.

The Centre had cancelled classes 10 and 12 exams due to the COVID situation in the country.

The CBSE recently said that it will be adopting a 30:30:40 formula for evaluation of marks of class 12 students based on results of class 10, 11 and 12 respectively.

It said students who are not satisfied with the evaluation formula will be given an opportunity to take up the Class 12 examination when the pandemic situation becomes conducive.