Boards 2019: Class 12 PSEB students find history paper easier than pre- boards, happy with new pattern

Even after the confusion on History textbook and syllabus, Class 12 students of PSEB find History paper easier and happy with the new pattern.

After a year full of confusion and controversies regarding history textbooks and syllabus, Class-12 students, who appeared in the history paper on Tuesday, heaved a sigh of relief to find the paper quite easy this time.

History: Students coming out after appearing in class 12th PSEB exam at Government Senior Secondary Smart School, PAU, in Ludhiana(HT)

Many of them said that it was much easier to attempt this paper than the one they got in the pre-board exam.

Anmolpreet Kaur of the government senior secondary school, Bharat Nagar, said, “Around 75% questions came from Sikh history. Whatever we studied in the class appeared in the paper. In the past three months, our subject teacher has made a lot of efforts to complete the syllabus but every chapter was taught in a hurry.”

Another student, Jaspreet Kaur, said, “While preparing for this exam, I was nervous as the syllabus was completed in a haste. But after reading the question paper, I felt relaxed as maximum questions came from Sikh history which I have studied in the beginning of the session.”

Neelam, a history lecturer at the government senior secondary school (boys-multi-purpose), said, “I am satisfied with the paper format and students were able to answer the questions with ease. I took extra classes to complete the 23 chapters of Class 12.”

PATTERN CHANGED

Meanwhile, the Punjab School Education Board changed the question paper pattern for the Class-12 history paper this year to provide relief to students

According to the new pattern, in Part B of the paper, the students were asked to attempt 10 questions, out of a total of 15. Ten questions were asked from Sikh history, especially from the period covering the life and times of ten Gurus to that of Banda Bahadur. The remaining five questions related to the period from 1716 to 1849, covering topics such as Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s empire, his relations with the British and the Anglo-Sikh wars).

In Part C, there were 10 questions out of which students were asked to attempt any seven.

In Part A, around 75% questions were asked from the Sikh history, which covers 12 chapters.

THE CONTROVERSY

The PSEB introduced new syllabus for Classes 11 and 12 in April 2018. However, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had alleged that a major portion of the Sikh and Punjab history had been removed from the Class-12 curriculum. The party had also alleged that the new books insulted Sikh Gurus.

The state government then formed a six-member committee to review history textbooks of Classes 11 and 12, before chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh took the final call on October 29.

With the state government deciding only in October last year that the PSEB was to use history textbooks of 2017-18 for Classes 11 and 12 for 2019 exams, the syllabus could not be completed in schools. Due the delayed decision, books were not available to students till late in the academic session.

Usually, the syllabus of history, an elective subject that about two lakh students opt for in Classes 11 and 12, is completed by December. But this time, the syllabus could be completed only by mid-February.