77.10 pc students clear SSC in State

77.10 pc students clear SSC in State

Pune: In one of the lowest pass percentages of the decade, the State has recorded a pass percentage of 77.10 per cent in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination result this year.

A total of 16,18,862 students from 22,246 schools in the State had answered the SSC examination this year.

While a lot was speculated about the results since the schools under the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) had adopted a new syllabus and evaluation pattern this year, the relatively huge drop of 12.31 per cent has taken schools, parents and students by shock. While the Balbharti had introduced a new syllabus for class X this time, the question papers were converted into action sheets that were more subjective and practical-based.

“This was the first SSC batch after we introduced the revised syllabus for Class X this year. We had also introduced action sheets for all the subjects. The internal mark system was also discarded this year for most of the subjects. So, there is a good possibility that it might have affected the result this time,” said MSBSHSE Chairperson Shakuntala Kale.

Internal marks only for science, maths
The State Board, like all the other boards, inculcated 20 internal marks for each subject for the SSC students since the year 2008. However, this year onwards, the internal marking system was limited only to science and mathematics. The rest of the subjects had written examination 100 marks each.

“The removal of internal marks has affected the result in a big way. However, I feel that it will only benefit the students in the long run now that we see the true marks of the students in their real potential,” Modern High School, Shivajinagar, Principal Satish Gawali told Sakal Times.

“It is a known fact that many schools gave good internal marks to their students to help boost their final results. This was also done to achieve a good percentage of results for the school. However, many of these students faltered when they reached class XI-XII as their performance would drop drastically. Now, the students will realise their true potential in class X itself,” he further said.

The principal’s opinions were also echoed in the statement by State Education Minister Vinod Tawde.

Accuracy matters
“In 2007, the SSC result was 78.67 per cent. When the internal marking system was introduced in 2008, the results increased to 87.41 that is by a whopping nine per cent. This shows that the result is accurate only when the method of evaluation is right,” Tawde said.

“If the students are awarded the right marks according to their potential, they will also choose the right career path, which will make them employable, instead of getting a degree just for the sake of it. Even after this, if any students feel that they can do better, they can always appear for the class improvement examination in July-August,” he added.

Laxmanrao Apte Prashala Principal Teresa David stated, “A lot was new this year. Maybe this made the students nervous and maybe they didn’t understand. There might be many reasons behind this drop in the percentage, which remains to be fully analysed.”

Worries around XI admissions
The admissions for class XI take place through an online Centralised Admission Process (CAP) in the State where the students are allotted admissions according to their merit. The parents and students now worry that the State Board students might face a tough competition with the students from other boards like the CBSE scoring much higher percentages.

However, in answer to this, Tawde said, “If you check the admissions’ list of 2018-19, the number of students from State Board getting admissions at colleges for class XI is much more than those coming from other boards. So, I don’t think that even this year, there will be any injustice with the students as our students are more in numbers.”

“It is true that the State Board students are more as compared to the other boards in our State, so there is no doubt that they will get admissions. But there will be more difficult competition to get into premier colleges. However, bringing back the internal marking system is not the solution to that. Instead, the boards should work together to devise a better and uniform system of evaluation,” he said.

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