The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is going to introduce Open-Book Exams (OBA) for class 9 students from the 2026-27 academic session.
With the resumption of this scheme, which was discontinued in 2018, there will be 3 pen-and-paper exams in each term, whose answers students will be able to write with the help of books, notes and other approved resources. Core subjects like Hindi, Mathematics, Science and Social Science will be included in it. Let us tell you that earlier also this scheme was started for class 9 and 11 students in the 2014 session but later it was discontinued from 2018 after being criticized.
Teachers’ recommendation
According to the information, this change is in line with the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE) 2023 which is based on the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The aim of NCFSE is to enable students to use knowledge in real situations by removing the habit of rote learning. A study conducted by CBSE found that many teachers of schools are also in favor of open-book exams. They believe that this will increase the critical thinking, analytical ability and problem solving skills of students.
This came to light in the pilot study
It is being told that CBSE had started a pilot study on open-book exams in which it was assessed how much time the students take in this system and how they use the resources. The study revealed that initially students had difficulty in using resources like books or notes effectively but gradually they started adopting it. Teachers believed that this system would motivate students to understand the subject in depth.
Past experience and current expectations
It is worth mentioning here that CBSE had also implemented ‘Open Text Based Assessment’ (OTBA) in 2014 but this plan could not succeed because the expected development of critical thinking could not take place in students. This time the board intends to make it a part of the internal examination and is unlikely to make it mandatory for schools. Experts believe that if the right training and resources are provided, this method will not only reduce the stress of the examination but will also lead the students towards real knowledge and its practical use.
