Coming down heavily on various examination boards giving grace marks, the draft of the National Education Policy has emphasised the need to discontinue the practice that artificially inflates the pass percentage.
A similar debate came up in the High Court of Karnataka last month when there was opposition to awarding grace marks in the II PU mathematics paper.
The document circulated to State governments goes a step forward and states that there are “wide variations” in the quality and value of certificates awarded by different boards that have different levels of learning. It has suggested that a system be evolved to ensure students’ scores and learning achievements can be compared over the years.
The move has been hailed by parents as well as academicians, who feel that these recommendations, if implemented, would set a level playing field for the students. However, the Department of Pre-University Education (DPUE) is in the processing of framing draft rules for awarding grace marks as there was lack of clear-cut guidelines that led to evaluators awarding 21 grace marks to those who attempted certain questions in the II PU exam.
“Allotting grace marks kills competition, as it turns out be a disadvantage to students who have worked hard, as the average score of a student increases,” said Nayana R., one of the students who was allotted grace marks for the mathematics paper. Krithika R., who took the CBSE class 10 exams, said the move would help ensure fair competition. “When we compare our textbooks as well as the examination, we see that the difficulty level for CBSE is much higher than State boards. Not only are the portions easier, but the question papers are also easier. So, the chances of getting into PU colleges are far higher than ours,” she said.
In fact, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations realigned the ISC science syllabus on the lines of the CBSE, and the DPUE in 2012 had tweaked their science syllabus based on the NCERT syllabus.
An Education Department official pointed out that the Ministry of Human Resource Development had initiated discussion in October last year for a pan India uniform examination system at the class 12 level, but it needed several more stages of discussion and deliberation.
The inputs of the draft NEP also state that there is a need for a team of academic experts to suggest and study alternatives which may include conducting a central examination at the class 10 and 12 level.
Allotting grace marks kills competition, as it turns out be a disadvantage to students who have worked hard, as the average score of a student increase
Nayana R., a student
