HRD MINISTRY TO DISCUSS ‘MODERATION’ OF MARKS POLICY

Is the government attempting to control soaring cut-offs for admissions to top institutes such as Delhi University?

This seems likely if a meeting called by HRD ministry of all state educations secretaries and chairman of all the state boards on April 24 is any indication.

On the agenda is a review of the ‘moderation’ policy to award students extra marks in exams for ‘difficult’ questions, said to be the reason behind inflated scores in Class 12 board exams — which in turn lead to high cut-offs.

Keen to scrap this practice, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has taken up the matter with the HRD ministry, requesting that all states be taken on board.

Sources say that the policy of moderation had led to an increase in the number of students with a 95% aggregate, as a result of which a few Delhi University colleges had set 100% as the first cut-off during admissions to undergraduate programmes.

In the past, CBSE and various other state boards have awarded up to 10% to 15% extra marks in ‘difficult’ subjects such as mathematics and physics, among others.

However, these marks are subject to the ceiling of 95%. This means that scores of a student getting 80% to 85% can be increased, but someone getting 95% or above does not benefit.

“The meeting will discuss the corrective measures that can be taken and every state has to be on board for doing away with the policy. It has been going on for quite some time and is unjust for those who prepare hard and get 95 without moderation,” said a senior official.

The issue of granting grace marks will also be discussed at the meeting.

Every year, more than two crore students appear in Class 10 and approximately 1.5 crore in Class 12 exams conducted by over 40 education boards.