HBSE Leads as Five State Boards Complete Question Banks for PARAKH Equivalence Initiative

PARAKH: The independent evaluation arm of NCERT, PARAKH (Performance, Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), has announced that five state boards have finished creating standardized question banks, marking a major step towards guaranteeing uniformity in school board assessments. The Board of School Education in Haryana (HBSE) has taken the lead by being the first to post its question bank online.

State-by-State Progress

• Haryana (HBSE): The Competency-Based Question Booklets for Classes 10 and 12 have been successfully created and submitted by the board. The booklet contains 50 exemplar competency-based questions that are in line with the curriculum and are intended to improve problem-solving abilities and deepen idea clarity.

• Chhattisgarh (CGBSE): They are the next board to cross the finish line because their question bank is finished and has started the printing process.

• Uttarakhand, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh: These boards have submitted their question banks for expert vetting by PARAKH officials, and are currently undergoing review.

Advancing the Cause of Equivalence

PARAKH CEO Indrani Bhaduri said the project is based on a thorough investigation that showed a lot of variation in question paper difficulty between boards and even within subjects in the same board. The Establishing Equivalence Across Education Boards report, published in July 2024, examined 34 boards and revealed significant differences in standards and methods of evaluation.

PARAKH educated five paper-setters from each board to examine and improve their question papers in order to address this issue. As a result, five boards have finished their question banks, others are undergoing the development stage, and a few more are being reviewed.

What Lies Ahead

A set of guiding principles has also been released by PARAKH to assist boards in creating fair and useful assessments. Everything from question preparation and blueprinting to scoring, moderation, and post-exam analysis is covered in these standards.

A number of boards, including those in Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh (UPMSP), have not yet started the procedure. According to PARAKH's analysis, the present UPMSP question papers need the maximum level of comprehension, whilst the CISCE and Odisha boards assign about 40% of their questions in simpler formats. State boards including those in Kerala, West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu, as well as national boards like the CBSE, do not yet have progress reports accessible.

Why This Matters

Standardized question banks help ensure fairness and consistency across diverse education systems. By aligning assessments to shared competency standards, PARAKH aims to:

• Reduce disparities in difficulty levels and evaluation styles.

• Enhance the predictability and quality of exam patterns.

• Promote equitable opportunities for students nationwide.

A powerful example has been set by Haryana and Chhattisgarh as boards prepare to take part in this harmonization exercise. In the upcoming months, the education world will be intently observing how the remaining boards perform.