18% students failed in Std IX this year

At a time when schools are basking in the glory of cent percent SSC results, very little is being said about the results of Std IX students.

A report by the south zone education department, of 372 schools in the zone, shows that nearly 18 per cent of those who gave the Std IX exams in March-April 2015, have failed.

Schools say students don't pay much attention to studies till Std VIII since they know they won't have to repeat the year.File pic for representation

"We found that almost 7,000 of the 39,000 students who appeared for the exam have failed. It's surprising that all these students failed only in Std IX," said B B Chavan, south zone education inspector. He added that after studying the report, he has forwarded the same to the state education Principal Secretary, Nand Kumar.

Time and again, schools have been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons, especially after activists and parents raise their voices over the Std IX results. While schools keep blaming this problem on the Right to Education (RTE) Act, activists have stated that the main reason for schools deliberately failing 'weak' children in Std IX is because they want cent per cent results in SSC examinations.

"We have realised that for the past few years, the number of students appearing for SSC examinations under form 17 (private candidate) has gone up, which means more students have been failing in Std IX. What's worse is schools have been given warnings repeatedly but looks like very little is changing," added Chavan. He said that the report is now being studied by the state education department.

'Students don't study'
Schools, however, stated that the problem lies in the fact that students pay very little attention to education until Std VIII, as they know they will be promoted because of the RTE no-fail policy. "Students who are weak in math and science are also given the option of opting for general math (lower level of difficulty) but they refuse to do so. Some of the students have scored as low as 1 and 2 marks out of 80 in math. How do we promote them?" said the principal of a school in Worli. She added that weak students are also made to attend remedial classes, but nothing helps their
performance.

Principal Secretary Nand Kumar said that he has asked for a similar report from other zones as well. "Other than the rate of failure, another concern is that we have noticed a drop-out rate of 9 per cent after Std IX. If failing students is leading to them dropping out, then that's a bigger problem. We are focusing on bringing down these figures," he said.

The principal secretary added that the department will also assess the data received and question schools if need be.