Kerala LSS, USS exams to be renamed CM-KIDS Scholarship; Major reforms on cards

Along with a change in name, the Lower Secondary Scholarship (LSS) and Upper Secondary Scholarship (USS) examinations for school students are set to undergo a complete overhaul. The new name will be CM-KIDS Scholarship. To ensure that the examination schedule does not go off track as in the past, future exams will be conducted based on a fixed calendar. As part of this, the General Education Department has decided to include syllabus content taught in schools up to January 31 in the question papers.

Under the existing system, students are eligible for scholarships by securing 60% marks in the LSS exam and 70% marks in the USS exam. However, this method has been assessed as unscientific, as it leads to reduced number of scholarship recipients each year. Henceforth, a fixed percentage will not be announced in advance. Instead, a cut-off mark will be introduced under the new reform to determine eligibility for scholarships. This cut-off will be decided each year after evaluation by the Examination Board, chaired by the Director of General Education.

In the case of LSS, the process of selecting scholarship recipients will be shifted from the state level to the sub-district level. For the USS, the OMR-based examination pattern will continue. The General Education Department issued a notification on Monday announcing the reforms in both scholarship examinations, along with a model question paper. The examinations will be held on February 26, and online registration at the school level will begin from December 30.