Govt mulls new rules for passing Class 10, 12

MUMBAI: State board students may no longer be able to bank on their practical papers to pass their board exams.

To stop schools and colleges from being generous while marking students’ practical exam papers, the state school education department is likely to introduce separate passing criteria for theory and practical papers in the Class 10 and 12 state board exams from the next academic year.

The department is likely to enforce a rule, where students need at least 20% marks in the written exam alone, along with an overall (theory and practical) 35% marks to pass the boards.

The Maharashtra state board had submitted a proposal with this formula to the department a year ago. At present, students need a total of 35 out of 100 marks to pass exams.

Officials from the board said their proposal is expected to get the department’s nod soon.

“It has been a year since we gave the proposal to the department. It is now finally being discussed by officials,” said Gangadhar Mhamane, chairperson of the state board. “We are expecting a government resolution anytime now.”

Written exams in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) are assessed by the board, while the practical papers are assessed by schools and colleges, which usually mark students leniently to make them pass. This was leading to an inflation of marks.

CONTINUED ON P10