CBSE Student’s Global Aptitude Index (SGAI) 2013

Around 4, 00,000 students have so far opted for CBSE-SGAI in the last three years worldwide. It is worth mentioning that in addition to CBSE schools, the Himachal Board of Higher Education also introduced CBSE SGAI for its students of Class X. The sustained strength of participation of schools in SGAI not only signifies its usefulness but also highlights the need for such initiatives in our country. A survey of CBSE schools revealed that out of those which responded, 88 per cent relied on CBSE SGAI for aptitude testing.
As per the feedbacks received on CBSE SGAI, many schools and members of public have strongly suggested that CBSE should make this assessment mandatory. Notwithstanding the suggestions, I still feel that it should remain an optional activity. Schools and students should themselves feel the importance of such a facility and come forward to register. As such, the larger motive of SGAI is to initiate a dialogue on the decision making of academic choices among various stakeholders besides empowering a student which becomes more significant in Indian context where subject choices of a student are very often dictated by parents’ expectations, peer pressure, social prestige and many other external factors.
For the benefit of new entrants in CBSE fraternity of affiliated schools, I would like to reiterate that although aptitude testing is not a new concept in developed world; in India CBSE is the first Board of Education to conduct an aptitude assessment in the form of SGAI. Developed as an indigenous assessment tool by a renowned team of field experts, SGAI is customized to suit the Indian context and above all, the variety of student population in CBSE affiliated Private, Government and Aided Schools. SGAI reiterates the fact that each individual is unique in terms of aptitude, interest and motivation. The format and details of assessment are available on CBSE
website.
So far, SGAI advocacy was limited to participant schools and class X students. However, it is the considered opinion that Aptitude testing should be made an integral part of school system and to make it more inclusive, the sensitization and advocacy of SGAI should start in class IX itself for the parents and students. In the past Board has arranged a number of SGAI orientation programmes in schools and trained more than a thousand strong school counsellors and teachers. For the purpose of facilitation, this year also, the advocacy material has been prepared in the form of Power Point Presentation, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), Teacher’s Manual of Activities and Posterswhich will be sent to each school via e-mail.
We hope and anticipate that all the schools will make full use of this material and share this with the counsellors or designated teachers who in turn can take this activity forward with students and parents during the PTM’s for Class IX and X.
The response to SGAI held In January 2013 has been very encouraging especially with regard to the comprehensive assessment reports generated for the first time. As mentioned earlier also, the Board is making constant effort to make SGAI assessment more and more valuable.
Consequently, a few important changes have been made in the Fourth edition of SGAI which CBSE would like to share:-
1. The Fourth edition of SGAI will be held in the month of November 2013 instead of January 2014. The purpose behind this rescheduling is to provide students their assessment reports well ahead of their entry into class XI.
2. No separate registration for SGAI will be done this year.
3.The registration process for the SGAI has also been changed to avoid multiplicity and duplication for schools.
4.The SGAI registration has been clubbed with the Online List Of Candidates (LOC) of Class X students for academic session 2013-14. Schools may register students for SGAI on payment of 100 per student.
5.The schools have the option to register students for SGAI Fourth edition till 30th September 2013 but not later than 15th October 2013.There is no late fee for SGAI.
6.The detailed information regarding this is separately available on CBSE website.

For any further clarification or suggestion, you may write to:
Smt. Rama Sharma
Public Relations Officer and Project Director (SGAI)
Email: rs.sgai@gmail.com
Tele-Fax: 011-22440083