The Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) has unveiled the Holistic Progress Cards (HPC) for nursery to class 2, while the format for higher classes is still in development. CBSE Secretary Himanshu Gupta revealed plans for a pilot run of holistic assessments across all grades in August-September during an interview with News18.
These new progress cards represent a departure from solely evaluating students based on academic performance. This reform aligns with the objectives of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which emphasizes a comprehensive assessment including qualities such as personal growth, problem-solving, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity, innovation, self-reflection, and emotional intelligence in addition to academic metrics.
For nursery to primary classes, the progress cards will primarily feature qualitative feedback from teachers, as well as input from the students themselves, their peers, and parents—key stakeholders in foundational learning.
Gupta, an IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre since 2012, assumed the role of CBSE Secretary in December 2023. His prior experience as the Director of Education in the Delhi government underscores his expertise in the field. In the upcoming academic year of 2024-25, Gupta aims to prioritize teacher training, the development of new training modules, the introduction of subjects like Artificial Intelligence (AI) in schools, and the incorporation of vocational skills starting from class 6. Additionally, he emphasizes the importance of leveraging technology and AI to enhance the quality of education, including monitoring schools for practices such as dummy schools and irregularities in internal assessments.
