Miscellaneous
School level not to have multiple disciplines
Ending the decade-long practice of teaching multiple disciplines in school, the government is switching to a single-track curriculum for grades 11 and 12.The Curriculum Develop-ment Centre, after grades 11 and 12 were brought under the school system through an amendment to Education Act two years ago, is revising curricula for the secondary level.Ending the decade-long practice of teaching multiple disciplines in school, the government is switching to a single-track curriculum for grades 11 and 12.The Curriculum Develop-ment Centre, after grades 11 and 12 were brought under the school system through an amendment to Education Act two years ago, is revising curricula for the secondary level.
Currently, students who pass grade 10 as the Secondary Education Examination (SEE) can choose one of the
four disciplines—Science, Management, Humanities or Education, introduced when the Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) was established some 25 years ago.Through the amendment to the Act in June 2016, the school system was restructured in line with the international practice, terming grades one to eight basic education and grades 9 to 12 secondary education.“Preparations have started for developing new curricula, which will be adopted gradually from grade nine possibly from next year,” said Krishna Prasad Kapri, executive director at the centre. The CDC has drafted a national framework, which sets the principle for devising curricula for different levels of school.
According to the framework, students will have three elective subjects in grades 9 and 10 among the eight subjects in total. One of the elective subjects will have local and provincial contents.Among the five subjects in grades 11 and 12, three will be optional. Students can choose the subjects depending on the courses they want to pursue at university. There will be more than 50 subjects in each grade to choose from, catering to students’ career choice. Examinations at the end of grade 8 will be conducted at the local level while provincial governments will oversee SEE tests.
Assessment at the end of grade 12, in the form of School Leaving Certificate examination, will be managed by the National Examination Board. The HSEB was restructured as NEB last year. The continuous assessment system, which prioritises overall performance of students during the whole of schooling years along with periodic tests, will be adopted till the seventh grade. It also seeks to end the practice of conducting grade 11 exams from the centre, tasking respective schools with administering the test.