CBSE introduces to offer skill courses as additional 6th subject for classes 6 to 11

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will offer skill courses as an additional sixth subject for classes 6 to 11 from 2020-21 academic session, officials said on Tuesday. "At the secondary level, a skill subject may be offered as an additional subject along with the existing five compulsory subjects.

The board has decided to offer students thflexibility of making a vocational choice of a short duration module of 12 hours at a stage in their early academic career, either at class 6, 7 or 8," Biswajit Saha, CBSE's Director Training and Skill Education, said. "In this way, they will be able to spend a relevant time period pursuing this choice as per the convenience of school, while benefitting from access to courses that are broader based," he said.

As per the existing CBSE policy, if any student fails in any one of the three elective subjects -- Science, Mathematics and Social Science -- then it will be replaced by the skill subject offered



as the sixth subject and a result of class 10 will be computed based on the best five subjects. However, if a candidate desires to appear in the failed subject, he or she may appear along with the compartment examination.

"The draft New Education Policy 2019 has clearly stated that there should be 'no hard separation' between curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular or academic and vocational or physical education. The updating of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) in the near future will make it possible for the board to remove such separations," Saha said.

"Therefore, schools are requested to consider choosing any one or more skill courses for the students of classes 6 to 8 start offering the same from the academic session 2020-21 onwards. The board will provide necessary support and guidance towards training and capacity building of teachers and other aspects for successful implementation of all skill subjects from time to time," Saha said.