E-Paper
CBSE to reintroduce communicative English, Sanskrit for Class 9, 10
New Delhi: In line with the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to reintroduce the communicative English and Sanskrit “from the academic year 2022-23 in class 9 and subsequently in class 10 in the year 2023-24”
New Delhi: In line with the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to reintroduce the communicative English and Sanskrit “from the academic year 2022-23 in class 9 and subsequently in class 10 in the year 2023-24”.
The board was offering these languages at two levels -- communicative and core -- before discontinuing the communicative option in the academic session 2018-19. While communicative options in language courses offer content about communication skills and day-to-day language usage, core courses focus on poetry, dramas, and concept based reading and writing in the subject.
In a letter addressing the principals of all its affiliated schools, CBSE director (Academics) Joseph Emmanuel said, “In pursuance to recommendation of National Education Policy 2020 regarding availability of all subjects and corresponding assessments at two levels as per the needs and interest of students, CBSE is planning to offer English and Sanskrit at two levels from the academic year 2022-23 in class IX and subsequently in class X in the year 2023-24.The Board will offer communicative based curricula which CBSE used to offer in these languages till the year 2018 in these languages.”
The letter dated August 3 was shared with the principals last week.
“As NEP stresses on using an approach to learning that highlights the importance of real life contexts and enabling students to apply their knowledge in real life scenarios, communicative approach to languages would certainly develop the student’s competence to communicate in the target language (communicative competence), with an enhanced focus on real-life situations,” he added.
The NEP was approved by the Union cabinet in July last year.
Presently, the board is offering Mathematics (basic and standard) and Hindi (A and B) at two levels. The Union education ministry had in January announced that the CBSE will start offering English and Sanskrit at two-levels as well. “The NEP advocates offering all subjects at two levels to meet the interests and needs of all students. The board is in process of providing such an option in more subjects,” a senior official at the CBSE said.
The board has asked all its schools to provide tentative data on the number of students who might be interested in opting for communicative English and communicative Sanskrit in class 9 next year. “We have asked for the details so that the board can ensure that all the required books in communicative English and communicative Sanskrit be available before the beginning of the next academic session,” the official added.
Meanwhile, several principals welcomed the move. “This decision to introduce Communicative English and Communicative Sanskrit will not only promote more application-based understanding of languages, but also provide maximum choices to students as advocated by the NEP,” said Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu Public School in Rohini.
Ajeet Kumar Sharma, principal of a government school in Ghaziabad, said, “It will be really good for government school students who are not very comfortable with English (core). They will now be able to perform well in the language with communicative English as an option.”
