CBSE Planning to Conduct Open Book Exams For 9th Class Students: Know Everything Here

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) recently announced that from the academic year 2026-2027 onwards, 9th-grade students will have open-book exams. The students will be allowed to take their notes and books into the examination halls for certain exams. These exams include languages, mathematics, science, and social science, with three paper-based tests each session to be held under the new system.

Exams will be conducted in schools, and students will be permitted to carry notes and books related to the subject. The decision is taken into consideration after aligning with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE) 2023.

Difficulties For CBSE:

• Training Teachers: The biggest hurdle is to train teachers, as preparing OBA is more difficult than normal question papers; they have to tweak the questions and give hypothetical situations instead of direct questions. 

• Shift in students' mindset: For years, Indian students have been trained to memorize the answers. Now they have to apply their question-scanning skills and find out the answers to the indirect questions.

• Infrastructure of School: India has rural schools too, which lack proper infrastructure, and they are not prepared for such OBAs.

• Uniformity in Standards: With over 27,000 affiliated schools, the CBSE is planning to set sample question papers for the students studying in these schools.

What if it Works Successfully?

India’s school system will be able to move from memorizing to real learning. Success will depend on teachers, student engagement, and administrative support. However, CBSE has already experimented with the same in 2014. Open-book exams focused on comprehension and critical thinking rather than parroting. If this time experiment becomes successful, the system can later be extended to classes 10, 11, and 12.