CBSE to put an end to marks inflation

Complete parity should be maintained among all boards, including state boards. We will convey our decision to them ... it will have to be implemented before October...

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is likely to stop inflation of marks in board exams from next year but only after getting all states on board, sources have said.

In its moderation policy, there is a clause which allows the board to maintain “a near parity of pass percentage of candidates in the current year vis-a-vis preceding years, subject-wise and overall”.

Sources said this, at times, leads to inflation of marks, which is not a true reflection of a student’s performance.

In a governing body meeting held on Thursday, CBSE discussed the issue at length. The issue will now be taken up with other state education boards in a meeting of the working group to be held in July.

HT had reported about the issue on June 26.

The Central Board of Secondary Education, which has over 18,000 schools affiliated to it, decided to do away with the marking system this April but the Delhi high court asked it to continue this year. The working group is headed by the CBSE chairman and has members from the ICSE and states of Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Manipur.

CBSE officials said the move of the board will be futile unless all state boards decided to come onboard.

“It will put CBSE students in a disadvantageous position. Complete parity should be maintained among all boards, including state boards. We will convey our decision to them and if everyone agrees, it will have to be implemented before October as students will start filling up forms for the board exams then,” a central board official said.