A day before the announcement of Plus Two results, the School Education Department has decided to end the practice of ranking students at the State and district levels in Plus Two and SSLC exams with a view to providing relief to students going through high stress levels.
.
The government order passed to the effect reasoned that ranking was introduced to promote healthy competition, but it had resulted in too much focus on top scorers. Contrary to expectations, it had led to an unhealthy competition among schools.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has been following this practice.
Speaking to The Hindu , School Education Secretary T.Udhayachandran said while academics and exams were important, it was unfair to judge students through the prism of marks. “Examinations and marks are incidental in the journey of education and are not the ultimate destination. While exams are a good method to assess the competitive spirit of students within the classroom, we saw that over the last few years, it is being misused and has led to a lot of concerns,” he said.
The decision comes following a high-level committee meeting on Thursday, which was attended by School Education Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan. He told reporters that they wanted to prevent students who miss the state rank by one or two marks from feeling dejected as well as put an end to schools advertising rank-holders to increase their fees and admissions.
“Mark sheets will be distributed to students a usual. For the deserving Tamil medium students, the government will award scholarships,” he said. The School Education department will take a decision soon on whether to introduce board examinations for class 11 students in future, he added.
“While over 80% of the students who write the public exams are from government schools, only 15 to 20% of the students are from private schools, and every year, the top ranks are bagged by the students from private schools. Scrapping the announcement of ranks will make it a level-playing field and not put down students from government institutions,” said N. Janardhanan from the Tamil Nadu Council of Teacher’s Organisations (TACTO).
Activists hail decision
For years now, activists and experts have been asking for scrapping the system of ranks. “It is a pathbreaking decision and the beginning of education reforms. In the next few years, students from the State will retain their prime spot,” said A. Narayanan, director of Change India.
Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary of the State Platform for Common School System, said it was a welcome move. “We thought that the commercial lobby would influence the government but are happy to know that changes have been set in motion for the benefit of the students. We expect more such changes in the coming days,” he said.
