Sun Jun 10 2018
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Do marks for extra-curricular give SSC pupils ‘unfair’ edge?
Principals Of Other Boards Say Practice Must End
Vinamrata.Borwankar@timesgroup.com
Mumbai:
As the number of SSC students benefiting from the extra marks
for art and culture doubled to 1.6 lakh this year as compared to 2017,
principals from other boards are worried about the impact it will have
on admissions and the disadvantage their students could face. State
board principals, on the other hand, want to encourage the practice so
that more students work on overall development.
In the SSC exam of 2017, the first year that the
extra marks for art and culture were introduced, as many as 81,726
students in the state had applied for the additional marks. In Mumbai,
more than 16,000 students applied under the two categories and 95% of
these got extra marks for drawing. This year, the number doubled in the
Mumbai division and the state. This year too, the maximum number of
students got it for excelling in drawing.
Principals of non-state board schools feel that
the extra marks are unfair in the admission race. “Every board competing
with each other has led to students scoring near-perfect scores. When
students from all boards compete for admissions, the state board
students now have an advantage because of the marks for extra-curricular
activity. Instead of giving them extra marks, the education department
should create a quota in the admissions which will be applicable for all
boards,” said the principal of a CBSE school.
When the education department capped the extra
marks for art and culture in November last year, it discontinued the 2%
reservation in the first year junior college admissions.
State board officials attributed the increase to
better awareness this year. And state board school principals feel the
numbers should increase in the coming years. “The other boards have near
perfect scores even without the extra marks and our students get left
out in the admissions race. The additional marks for extra-curricular in
fact ensure that students don’t concentrate on just academics, but also
pursue their passion,” said Prashant Redij, member of Mumbai’s
Principals’ Association.
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