ISC board lowers pass marks

A CLASS 10 STUDENT WILL NOW NEED JUST 33% TO PASS INSTEAD OF THE CURRENT 35% AND CLASS 12 STUDENT WILL NEED 35% TO PASS INSTEAD OF 40%

LUCKNOW/NEWDELHI: The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) on Monday lowered the pass marks criteria for ICSE or Class 10 and ISC or Class12 board examinationby three and five percentage points which will come into effect from 2019.

An ICSE (Class 10) student will now need just 33% to pass instead of the current 35%. A Class 12 (ISC) student will need 35% to pass instead of 40%. The move has been made for “close uniformity with other boards”, the CISCE said in a circular.

“The objective of this is to bring about close uniformity with other boards in the country,” Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, said in the circular.

According to the circular, the decision has been taken after a number of meetings with the ministry of human resource development (HRD) along with other examination boards, Inter Board Working Group (IBWG) that recommended that all boards should have equal passing marks

“Among the many recommendations made by the Inter Board Working Group (IBWG), it was suggested that all the boards in the country should have the same pass mark criteria. In view of this the council has decided to change its pass mark criteria,” Arathoon said.

The circular issued also advised the affiliated schools to implement the pass marks criteria in their internal examinations as well from the academic year 2018-19 onwards. For Class 9 and 10, it is 33% and for Class 11 and 12, the pass marks will be 35%.