UPSC Essentials | Mains answer practice

UPSC Essentials | Mains answer practice — GS 1 (Week 37)

UPSC Essentials brings to you its initiative for the practice of Mains answer writing. It covers essential topics of static and dynamic parts of the UPSC Civil Services syllabus covered under various GS papers. This answer-writing practice is designed to help you as a value addition to your UPSC CSE Mains. Attempt today’s answer writing on questions related to topics of GS-1 to check your progress.

What is the credit system carried out by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)? What changes has the CBSE subcommittee proposed?

What is Multidimensional poverty in India? How Indian Multidimensional Poverty Index is different from global Multidimensional Poverty Index?

Introduction

— The introduction of the answer is essential and should be restricted to 3-5 lines. Remember, a one-liner is not a standard introduction.

— It may consist of basic information by giving some definitions from the trusted source and authentic facts.

Body

— It is the central part of the answer and one should understand the demand of the question to provide rich content.

— The answer must be preferably written as a mix of points and short paragraphs rather than using long paragraphs or just points.

— Using facts from authentic government sources makes your answer more comprehensive. Analysis is important based on the demand of the question, but do not over analyse.

— Underlining keywords gives you an edge over other candidates and enhances presentation of the answer.

— Using flowcharts/tree-diagram in the answers saves much time and boosts your score. However, it should be used logically and only where it is required.

Way forward/ conclusion

— The ending of the answer should be on a positive note and it should have a forward-looking approach. However, if you feel that an important problem must be highlighted, you may add it in your conclusion. Try not to repeat any point from body or introduction.

— You may use the findings of reports or surveys conducted at national and international levels, quotes etc. in your answers.

Self Evaluation

— It is the most important part of our Mains answer writing practice. UPSC Essentials will provide some guiding points or ideas as a thought process that will help you to evaluate your answers.

QUESTION 1: What is the credit system carried out by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)? What changes has the CBSE subcommittee proposed?

Introduction:

— Creditisation aims to establish academic equivalence between vocational and general education, facilitating mobility between the two education systems, as proposed by the NEP 2020.

— The University Grants Commission, which oversees higher education, developed the National Credit Framework (NCrF) in 2022 in order to put this into practice.

— NCrF is a unified credit framework for the integration of training and skill development into schools and higher education.

— The credits earned by a student will be digitally stored in the Academic Bank of Credits and accessible through a linked Digilocker account.

Body:

You may incorporate some of the following points in the body of your answer:

Changes proposed by CBSE subcommittee

— At present, the standard school curriculum does not have a formalised credit system. As per the CBSE plan, an academic year would be made up of 1,200 notional learning hours, which would translate to earning 40 credits.

— The hours will include both academic learning at school and non-academic or experiential learning outside the school.

— The scheme of studies has accordingly been tweaked to mention teaching hours and credits earned against each subject.

— To put this into practice, the committee has proposed adding multidisciplinary and vocational courses to the list of existing disciplines. So, in order to pass the final exams, students in Classes 9 and 10 must complete ten subjects: three languages and seven core disciplines.

— At least two of the three obligatory languages should be Indian. For example, students can select a combination of Hindi, Sanskrit, and English.

— For Classes 11 and 12, the Board suggested that students must study six subjects, consisting of two languages and four subjects with an optional fifth. At least one of the two languages has to be Indian.

Conclusion:

— The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the country’s largest national school board, is planning significant changes to the academic framework of Classes 9, 10, 11, and 12 as part of its plan to implement creditisation, recommended by the 2020 National Education Policy (NEP).

(Source: More subjects, credit system: What changes CBSE has proposed for Class 10 and 12, why by R Radhika)

Points to Ponder

National Education Policy

Credit system

National Credit Framework