Students of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) board are disappointed as they have scored low marks this year. Students claim the percentage has lowered because the state government scrapped internal assessments for language subjects this year. This denied students the chance to score higher marks.
This year, the pass percentage of Mumbai has been 77.04, which has dipped by 12.31 per cent, as compared to 2018, when it was 89.41 per cent. This means, out of a total of 16,18,602 students who appeared for the Class 10 (SSC) examination, 12,47,903 students have passed in Maharashtra while the remaining have failed. Of these, over 3.57 lakh students appeared from the Mumbai and 2.75 lakh cleared the examination.
Students claim they could not score high marks as there were no practicals, orals, dictation, comprehension or internal tests for language subjects. Sikandar Ahmed, a student, said, “It is difficult to score marks in theory papers especially for language subjects. Our overall percentage dipped as we got low marks in Marathi and English language subjects.” While Hiral Mehta, another student said, “Internal assessments are our only chance to clear language subjects as the marking pattern for theory papers is tough. Our friends have failed mostly in language subjects.”
In addition, the scrapping of internals and low marks of students have made it difficult for students to secure seats for First Year Junior College (FYJC) admissions. Marie Fernandes, Principal of St Andrew’s College, Bandra, said, “The cut-offs for Science, Commerce and Arts are high but students have scored less marks. Students are going to face a tough time securing admissions for FYJC in well-known colleges.”
Students and parents staged several protests blaming the state government for this mess. Richard George, a parent, said, “Our children are suffering with low marks and no admissions because the state scrapped internals. The state is responsible for the poor performance of students and now, our children have to bear the brunt of this mess.”
In order to clear this mess, Ashish Shelar, new state education minister of school education, claimed to increase seats for FYJC. Shelar said, “We have directed all junior colleges to increase eight per cent seats for Commerce and Arts and five per cent for Science stream in FYJC. These additional seats will ensure all students get admissions.”
But, college authorities and students have criticised this decision of the state. Tanu Basu, a student, said, “How does increasing seats help us if we have already failed in our SSC exams? Also, will well-known colleges give us seats when we have scored low marks like 50 or 40 per cent? Will they lower their cut-offs just because they have some extra seats? It is a foolish decision of the state.”
While, Fernandes added, “We do not have the infrastructure to support additional seats. Students are already cramped up in the FYJC classrooms and now, the state want us to add more seats. Also, the FYJC admission process has already begun and the state has directed us at the last minute.”
The state government claimed they want to increase focus on theory. Vinod Tawde, state education minister of higher education, said, “The system of giving internal assessment marks was started in 2008. We have now scrapped internal assessments to increase focus on theory in language subjects.”
In response to this, Saudamini Bhagwat, a senior teacher said, “Who scraps internal assessments for language subjects? The whole point of language subjects is so that students learn to speak, understand and communicate in that particular language. How are students going to learn the language if there are no internal or communication tests?”
A senior officer of the Maharashtra Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE), Mumbai division, said, “We scrapped internal assessments to prevent schools from awarding marks liberally to students in internal tests.”
In all this mess, students and parents are the ones suffering and running around for admissions. College authorities have refused to lower cut-offs for FYJC claiming their hands are tied. The first general merit list for FYJC admission will be declared on July 6 at 6pm.
