In a significant policy shift, the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has announced that schools will once again be responsible for setting the question papers for Class IX students, starting from the year-end examinations of the 2025-26 academic session. This decision marks a reversal of the board's recent practice of centrally setting these papers, a move implemented to alleviate student anxiety and enhance teacher development.
Why the Board is Handing Back Control to Schools
Board chairman Bhagirath Shetye explained that the change was prompted by observations made during the period when the board itself set the papers. For two semesters in 2024-25 and the first semester of 2025-26, the Goa Board had taken over the paper-setting process. However, Shetye noted that this centralization was inadvertently causing stress among students. Many pupils, worried about facing board-set papers in Class IX, began joining coaching classes or seeking extra tutoring.
"We decided to make some changes," Shetye stated. "We saw that only a few Class IX teachers were getting the opportunity to set the papers, and the rest could not get training in paper setting." The new approach aims to decentralize the process, empowering school teachers and, in turn, reassuring students that their own educators are crafting the exams.
The New System: Blueprints and Cluster Checks
While authority returns to the schools, the Goa Board will not be stepping away entirely. It will maintain rigorous oversight through a structured monitoring system. The board has provided all schools with a detailed blueprint that teachers must follow when creating question papers.
To ensure compliance and quality, the papers set by schools will be collected and scrutinized cluster-wise. The board has established eight clusters at the taluka level, each overseen by senior teachers who will review the submitted papers. "The papers set by schools will be collected cluster-wise and checked to see if they are as per the blueprint," Shetye elaborated.
Furthermore, the board will continue its practice of conducting inspections during the exams, as it has done since 2024-25, to verify that schools are adhering to the official timetable.
Quality Control and Future Implications
The board's systematic checks are designed to ensure high standards and provide constructive feedback. Shetye emphasized that this oversight would encourage teachers to be more meticulous. "If we find that any teacher has set a substandard paper, we will inform the school head, as the school head too has to carry out checking of the paper after it is set," he said.
The evaluation of answer sheets will remain the responsibility of school teachers, with marks being uploaded to the board's portal. An added benefit of the new system is the creation of a quality question bank. "Of the papers set by school teachers, the good ones will be added to Goa board’s question bank, which schools can use for students to solve as practice in the future," Shetye revealed.
However, if discrepancies are found in any Class IX or XI paper during checking, the board will identify the issues and provide targeted training for the teachers involved. This focus on capacity building aims to elevate the overall standard of assessment across the state's schools.
