Mumbai Edition, 27th Sep 2008

HIGH COURT RULING PUTS AN END TO PERCENTILE DRAMA.

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: Though SSC principals don’t deny that the government was a tad “hasty’’ in introducing the marks normalisation system, they said on Friday that there was a need for some “normalisation’’ between boards. The current playing field, they felt, was anything but level.
“People seem to forget that SSC students have to clear 10 subjects in the board exams, while the number is nearly half for ICSE students,’’ said Yasmin Chagla, principal of Cumballa Hill School.
“As the fees in ICSE schools are higher, they have children who come from a better socioeconomic background and are better exposed to the world around them. On the other hand, the SSC board has to deal with the urban-rural divide. The standard of education fluctuates from area to area. The level of English, too, varies. For children in rural areas, this can be a huge handicap,’’ said Chagla, adding that Of course, the SSC board must simultaneously think of raising its standards, she said.
“Knowing the difficulties faced by SSC students, the board has introduced internal marks and changes in the marking scheme to help students better compete with their ICSE and CBSE counterparts. But I still don’t think SSC students are on a par with those from other boards,’’ said Fr George Athaide, principal of St Andrew’s School, Bandra.
“Not only is the scoring system higher for ICSE and CBSE, but the ICSE exams too extend for nearly three weeks, giving students five days to study for one paper. The SSC exams, on the other hand, are held one after the other. It’s tough for the SSC board to increase the period as there are too many students and the exams are on a much larger scale,’’ said Athaide.
Though he’s glad the percentile system has been scrapped, as it “seemed rather unfair’’, he hoped the government would find a solution to normalisation so that SSC students got their due.
SSC students remained largely indifferent to Friday’s verdict. “What difference does it make now that the admissions are over?’’ asked J Jhaveri. “Though we were all affected by the chaotic admission season this year, I agree that ICSE students were the worst affected,’’ she added.