Maharashtra government may ask CBSE, ICSE to drop internal marks

Mumbai: With the dip in scores of secondary school certificate (SSC) students, thanks to the state education department’s policy of scrapping oral exams, the government is now mulling a proposal to drop internal marks of students from other boards for first-year junior college (FYJC) admissions.

State education minister Vinod Tawde, in his official statement, said: “In order to ensure students from the state board do not lag behind their counterparts from other boards in any way, the government is considering dropping internal marks for students from CBSE and ICSE boards in the FYJC admission process. With this, a level playing field would be created for all.”

The government will now send the proposal to the human resources development (HRD) ministry and the boards concerned for their nod.

HT on Tuesday reported the education department was thinking of a mechanism to tackle the disparity in scores of students from the state and other boards, and had conducted a meeting with top officials on Monday. Another meeting was conducted on Tuesday with a set of school principals, college representatives and parents, after which the government came up with the proposal.

Currently, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) have 80-mark written exams for all subjects, while 20 marks are allotted for internal assessment. If the proposal comes into effect, the two boards would have to convert marks of their students out of 100 and feed it into the system. These marks will reflect in the system when students apply for FYJC admissions.

Principals said while the move might help students from the state board this year, scrapping of oral exams for SSC needs a review. “This seems like a good way to bridge the gap in scores for this year’s admissions. Oral examinations, however, form a very important part of assessment and need to be brought back,” said Anna Correa, principal, St Stanislaus High School, Bandra.

FYJC admissions will not begin until a decision is taken. “The government can’t put the burden of its mistakes on students. Delayed admission process would add to the anxiety of students who are already upset with the low scores,” said a parent.

Officials at the education department said only 4-5% students from other boards opt for admissions for FYJC.

For this year, the process for filling part one of the admission form is still on.

First Published:
Jun 11, 2019 23:18 IST

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