State board to consider doing away with new 25% score rule

Worried about drop in pass percentage, board to do rethink on rule that says SSC students must get at least 25% in written examination to be eligible for grace marks

Fearing that the percentage of students failing their SSC exams might go up this year, the state education board is considering scrapping a recent rule which makes it mandatory for students of Std IX and X to score at least 25 per cent in their written exams to qualify for grace marks.

The state board rule says students must score at least 25 per cent to make it to the next class, as against the previous practice where they were given 10 grace marks in three subjects they had failed to clear.

According to officials of the board, there was a strong belief that students who performed poorly in their exams were given extra marks by their teachers in practical exams to ensure they passed, which is why the board had to introduce the new rule. Sources said the government was now forced to reconsider this decision after receiving complaints from schools where a large number of Std IX students had failed — especially in science and maths — to secure the minimum marks required by the rule.

The SSC results are expected within two weeks. “We are still mulling over it and might scrap the new rule as we saw an increase in the failing percentage in students of Std IX in some schools. For this year, the state board will apply its previous rule of granting students 10 grace marks in three subjects,” stated an official from the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education.u00a0All schools which have declared results have been told to re-examine these for students who have failed and grant them grace marks. u00a0

For HSC students
According to other rules of the state board, students appearing for their HSC examination in 2013 will have to score at least 25 per cent in written papers of all four subjects — physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics. Instead of two papers of 40 marks each, these subjects will have a single paper of 70 marks.

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