CBSE ‘HOTS’ Puts Gulf Students in Hot Seat

CBSE ‘HOTS’ Puts Gulf Students in Hot Seat
Gopal Sutar, Arab News

RIYADH — The decision of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to include Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) for Class X and XII students has evoked a mixed reaction from Indian students and parents studying in the Gulf.

The 2008 examination to be set on the new curriculum will have 20 percent of questions based on HOTS to test the application skills of the students who now have to understand and interpret the questions. This is in contrast to Most of the Same (MOTS) type which was repetitive and stereotype.

According to CBSE, question papers would be designed in a way that help students answer all the questions within the stipulated time. They would get some time to revise them.

“We welcome the new pattern but we are not sure whether the students in the Gulf region would be able to cope with it,” says a parent in Riyadh.

One of the students says that schools in the region are not equipped to inculcate interpretative skills among students as most of the schools struggle to get a proper staff. “They even find it difficult to teach the stereo type syllabus. I wonder how these schools will prepare students for application based questions,” wonders another parent.

Some with capacity to spend more money for special coaching and personal grit always do well, feels a student.

Most of the Indian schools in the Gulf and Saudi Arabia in particular have adopted CBSE curriculum but do not have qualified staff to teach key subjects at the higher levels due to various reasons.