Storm dumps a year and a half's worth of water on parts of UAE, flooding roads and Dubai's airport
Dubai (AP/PTI): Heavy thunderstorms lashed the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, dumping over a year and a half’s worth of rain on the desert city-state of Dubai in the span of hours as it flooded out portions of major highways and its international airport.
Meanwhile, the death toll in separate heavy flooding in neighbouring Oman rose to 18 with others still missing as the sultanate prepared for the storm.
The rains began late Monday, soaking the sands and roadways of Dubai with some 20 millimetres (0.79 inches) of rain, according to meteorological data collected at Dubai International Airport. The storms intensified around 9 a.m. local Tuesday and continued throughout the day, dumping more rain and hail onto the overwhelmed city.
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Karnataka SSLC question papers to have new format for academic year 2024-25
Bengaluru: In a significant shift, the Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB) has reportedly announced changes to the format of the SSLC annual exam question papers for the academic year 2024-25 and released a blueprint outlining these revisions. This overhaul, the first major revision since 2019-20, is aimed at enhancing the quality of learning and reducing students' dependence on rote memorisation.
Marks will now be allocated based on themes rather than individual chapters, with a focus on key concepts, according to a report published by The Hindu on Monday. For instance, language papers can be organised around themes such as prose, poetry, and grammar, while core subjects will feature units that combine multiple lessons.
A significant component of this change is the reintroduction of a weightage system based on learning objectives, which includes: remembering (20%), understanding (40%), and application (20%). In addition, 15% of the marks will be allocated to skills such as diagram drawing, while 5% will focus on higher-order thinking questions that encourage critical analysis and problem-solving.
“This method ensures equal importance is given to all chapters during teaching and learning. Teachers and students can move away from the practice of preparing for exams solely based on chapter-wise marks allocation. While specific marks are not assigned to individual chapters, clear weightage is given to relevant themes. This approach guarantees comprehensive practice for each chapter and allows for diverse question types in the exams,” the blueprint stated, as cited by the news outlet.
Key changes also include a reduction in the number of one-mark and two-mark questions, in favour of more three-mark and four-mark questions and the introduction of one five-mark question.
The blueprint mentioned that one-mark questions, which often lead to guesswork, would be replaced with more descriptive questions that challenge students to think critically, write extensively, and refine their expression skills.
The updated question paper format will include 45 questions for the first language, and 38 questions for other subject papers. Some of the three-mark, four-mark, and five-mark questions may contain sub-questions. Additionally, internal choice questions, worth a total of 20 marks, will continue to be part of the exam and will be based on the same themes and chapters as the primary questions.
Despite these revisions, KSEAB has clarified that the overall difficulty level of the exams will remain unchanged. The distribution of marks will continue to follow the same pattern as in previous years, with 30% of questions considered easy or very easy, 50% of average difficulty, and 20% deemed difficult.
