Pune
Edition, 14th July 2008
Edu Dept Has Released Averages For Only SSC, ICSE And
CBSE
Mumbai:
A scrutiny of the state government’s hurriedly announced
marks normalisation system, which is being used for the
controversy-hit junior college admissions, reveals a glaring
drawback.
The GR calls for marks normalisation across all boards,
but the education department has released the averages of
the top 10 scores for only the SSC, ICSE and CBSE boards.
There are no guidelines for how marks should be normalised
for students from other boards, many of whom apply to Mumbai’s
junior colleges.
The normalisation system was rammed through by the education
department the night admissions began on June 27. It sought
to put the scores from various boards on an equal platform,
so that admissions could be conducted in a fair manner.
However, while the government gave averages to help calculate
the normalised scores of SSC, ICSE and CBSE students, it
appeared to have completely forgotten that students from
other boards also seek admissions.
In the absence of any clear guidelines on what to do if
students from other boards — like the Gujarat board,
the Kolkata board or the international IGCSE board —
apply, most Mumbai colleges are simply going by such students’
overall percentages. So the normalised scores of SSC, ICSE
and CBSE students are being compared to the actual percentages
of students from other boards. This is akin to comparing
apples with oranges, said some Mumbai college principals.
Education secretary Sanjay Kumar agreed that comparing normalised
scores to overall percentages was unfair, but said no such
case had been brought to his notice. He said that if anybody
had a problem, they should approach the government and not
the media.
Principals and parents said the system is unfair because
the normalised scores of ICSE and CBSE students went up
by an average of 2 points over the actual percentage, and
for an SSC student the increase was by as much as 4 points.
Percentiles are calculated by dividing a student’s
score by the average of the top 10 scores in his/her board
and multiplying the result by 100.
The principals and parents refused to be named as they feared
repercussions. A parent initially brought the flaw to TOI’s
notice. ICSE parents expressed surprise when told of the
drawback. A college principal said the entire normalisation
process was flawed.
A large number of students from other states apply to Mumbai’s
junior colleges, especially to minority institutions that
have quotas. For instance, a number of students from the
Gujarat board apply to colleges with a Gujarati quota.
