State board may not give 25 extra marks to students pursuing sports

The board may implement the same rule as the state Education department, which said HSC and SSC students will have to score 20 per cent in theory and 35 per cent overall to pass in every subject

State board students who participate in sports and those in the handicapped category who get 25 extra marks, might soon have a reason to worry.

Some principals feel that because of compulsions in the rule, students will stop taking sports seriously. File pic for representation

While the state Education department has clearly said recently that HSC and SSC students will have to score 20 per cent in theory and 35 per cent marks overall to pass in every subject, the state board is still debating whether the same should be applicable to students under the handicapped and sports categories who are at an advantage of scoring 25 marks extra.

“The blanket rule stands clear that students will have to score 35 per cent marks in every subject to pass, including minimum 20 per cent marks in theory papers in every subject. Since students who participate in sports get the advantage of scoring 25 marks (i.e. 5%), we’ve noticed several such students don’t pay much attention to theory papers.

We don’t want to encourage this trend,” said Krishnarao Patil, state board secretary. He pointed to cases where students have scored not more than 5 marks in theory papers and still passed thanks to the grace marks. The purpose of awarding 25 grace marks for students was to encourage them to participate in sports as well as pay attention to studies.

“While students should pay attention to sports, we also want them to take their studies seriously. We might decide to implement a minimum per cent of pass marks for sports and handicapped category students, to be eligible for 25 grace marks,” added Patil.

He said this decision would be taken over the next two weeks, after deliberating on the same at the next exam committee meeting to be held at the state board head office in Pune.

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