No internal language exam for Class 9 from this session
Students of Class 9 studying in schools affiliated to the Maharashtra state board (SSC) will not have internal assessment in languages and social sciences from the current session. There will only be written examinations of 100 marks each for languages like English, Hindi, Marathi and others. This process will be applied to Class 10 from the next academic year.
This decisions of scrapping the internal assessment has been initiated to help students pass in these examinations and also prevent schools from misusing the liberty of awarding assessment marks.
The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) passed this circular after receiving several suggestions from schools and parents.
The pattern for subjects like mathematics and science and technology will continue to remain as 80 marks written and 20 marks practical.
Earlier, the marking system for language subjects too consisted of 80 marks written (theory) and 20 marks (oral).
Siddheshwar Chandekar, Mumbai divisional secretary of the Maharashtra state board, said, “This change has come after suggestions from various schools and parents. Some schools misused this process and would award more marks to students who would otherwise fail miserably in theory papers.”
School authorities have mixed views about this decision. Saira Kennedy, Principal of St Lawrence High School, said, “Some teachers were never in favour of internal assessment. A student should pass only if he or she deserves to pass.” While a teacher said, “Some schools would just give marks to students in the assessment so that they could pass.”
The teachers also believed that this decision would not leave any scope for the overall development of a student. One teacher said, “Communication skills and interpersonal skills could be developed in these oral examinations where students had to attempt reading and poetry. Now as this assessment is scrapped there is no chance for this overall development.”