SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
Like the Class X results announced earlier this month the pass percentage has crossed an unprecedented score of 99, that in normal times would have not been possible. Just 75 students were categorised in the need improvement category and the results of another 35 students were held back over non-submission of eligible documents. Practically nobody failed and all still stand a chance of making it with the supplementary exam.
In normal academic times a percentage such as this would have been seen as the result of successful teaching and quality assessment, but the circumstance of internal assessment raises questions. Besides, and this is essential to the discussion, the students had their syllabus cut by about 28 to 30 per cent for the last academic year, again due to the pandemic that did not permit students to attend classes in school and much of the year the classes were held online, with poor network connectivity. Under the circumstances leniency of the Board in assessment could be acceptable, but Goa Board requires to introspect on whether this result is indeed a moment to be proud of.
The decision to cancel the exams due to the pandemic situation that prevailed at that time is not under question. But the result that sees almost everybody pass does raise questions of whether there has been an objective assessment of the students. The question is relevant as the exams for the Class XII were cancelled and the results were declared after students were assessed based on objective criterion developed by the Board which allotted 40 per cent of the marks to the performance of the students in the Class XII pre-Board exams, 30 per cent of their Class XI final exams and 30 per cent marks on the best of the three Class X subject marks.
It has been a tremendous leap taken by the students of Class XII that saw the pass percentage rise from 89.72 last year to 99.40 per cent this year, a jump of 10 per cent from the previous year’s result. Normally, the difference in the pass percentage over previous years is plus or minus one per cent, with rarely the percentage taking a jump of more than 2 per cent. Pertinently, in the last five years the HSSC pass percentage had crossed 90 just once in 2016 when it had stood at 90.10. Therefore the current percentage is surprising and places doubts on whether the assessment has been objective.
The Class XII is a crucial year for students and the results are critical for them as based on the marks obtained, they opt for professional course and select institutes of higher education, some also seeking admission to universities abroad. A pass percentage of this nature should not cloud the results of those deserving of high percentages and whose result could be viewed with suspicion by foreign institutions.
Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has completed the all-important tasks of declaring the results of the SSC and HSSC batches of 2020-21. It now requires to assess itself and the evaluation process it has followed in declaring the results of the two years. An increase in the pass percentage is always good, and deserves a pat, but when it reaches such levels, there is need to ask whether the past batches that completed their schooling were all that bad as to score such lower percentages. It is the same board, the same syllabus, the same teachers, only the evaluation system is different. Does Goa Board have an explanation?
