Class 9, 10 UP Board changes: Subjects rise from 6 to 10, students to study three languages

In a recent announcement following the guidelines of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the Uttar Pradesh State Board of High School and Intermediate Education, commonly known as the Uttar Pradesh Board, is gearing up to implement substantial modifications for classes 9 and 10 from the academic session of 2025-26. 

Officials have disclosed that as part of the proposed changes, the number of subjects for examination in class 9 will be augmented from six to ten. A significant alteration will be the introduction of the three-language formula, where it will be mandatory for each student to study a minimum of three languages.

In a move to gather input from all stakeholders, the board has set a deadline of June 29 for suggestions to smoothly incorporate these alterations in a phased manner across over 27,000 affiliated schools with a total student population exceeding 50 lakh.

The implementation of the three-language formula will be executed in class 9 commencing from the session of 2025-26 and in class 10 from the subsequent academic year. As per the new formula, students will have to study Hindi along with choosing two languages from a range of options such as Sanskrit, Gujarati, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, and others.

Uttar Pradesh Board Secretary, Divyakant Shukla, stated that Mathematics, Science, and Social Science will remain compulsory subjects. Additionally, students will need to opt for one subject among Home Science, Anthropology, Commerce, NCC, Computer, Agriculture, or Environmental Science.

In the domain of Art Education, students can select from painting, music, singing, or music playing. For Physical and Health Education, choices include Moral, Yoga, Sports and Physical Education, and socially useful productive work.

Vocational Education will offer 31 subjects for students to choose from, with a written examination carrying 30 marks and internal assessment contributing 70 marks in Physical, Art, and Vocational Education. Other subjects will have a written exam of 80 marks and internal assessment of 20 marks.

With the total marks on the high school marksheet set to rise to 1,000 from the previous 600 marks, each subject will now carry 100 marks, with 80 for the final exam and 20 for internal assessment. Furthermore, a new grading system will be introduced along with changes in the question paper format to align with the revamped curriculum.