Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The future of more than 10 lakh students appearing for the Class 10 board would be affected by one decision of the Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (MPBSE). The state education board has instructed the schools not to give marks above ‘average marks of the class- that will be set as a benchmark.
In the instructions sent to the schools, the MPBSE has explained it with an example. ‘For example, your school has 92 students (in Class 10) and marks of all students in all subjects add up to 30,467 then average marks are 30,467/92=331.16. Therefore, the average marks for your school are 331.16, and percentage-wise it comes to 55.19%,’ explains the MPBSE letter.
It instructs that average of three years should be taken out and the best average should be settled as the benchmark. Moreover, the board results should not deviate more than 2% this year, says the instructions.
Board exams for Class 10 are being organised on an open book pattern where students will write the exams from home with the help of books, maybe even with the help of parents and peers.
‘When the students write answer copies at home with books in front of them, why will they perform poorly?’ asks a parent. All students will give their best and perform nothing less than 90%. In such a case, even the poorest performing student will score above 90% along with the bright students.
Nevertheless, they will be given lesser marks because of this clause added by the state education board.
‘Higher Education and Technical Education Department have also decided to organise exams on open book pattern but no such restriction has been imposed there. Such instructions are not in favour of students,’ said Ajit Singh, who runs an MP Board affiliated school.
Secretary of the education board, Umesh Singh said that it will not do injustice to the students. ‘CBSE board has also used this formula for allotting marks to the students. We are just emulating the same formula,’ said Singh.
However, parents and teachers differ with the board’s view. ‘How can you compare your board with the CBSE and implement the same formula?’ asked one of the irate parents. Look at CBSE schools, their infrastructure, teachers etc and then compare it with yours. If they are wrong, will you emulate the mistakes also, he added.
