teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Sports tournaments organised in Goa particularly at the State level with ‘ulterior motives’ to facilitate garnering of sports merit marks is now stumped by the all new revised Sports Merit Marks Scheme approved by the government and its sports ministry.
Students from Std V to XII will now have to earn sports merit marks by participating at every level in a particular sport and figure in the first three winning slots if they are to be awarded sports merit marks.
Chairman of the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, J R Rebello explaining the revised scheme which comes into effect this academic year said, “Participation at all levels of sports events and achievement is the new mantra under the revised sports merit marking system and there will be no scope for subverting the system anymore.”
If one recalls the Goa Board had been implementing the scheme for award of sports merit marks since 2010 under the sports policy of 2009 for Class IX to XII. The Board however received a volley of complaints that the same was being misused in respect to award of participation marks at the State level without participation at the lower levels.
The Board thus sought for a review in 2011 but was unable to effect a revised scheme suggested then due to administrative reasons. A status quo was maintained and a fresh revision was sought, now approved and set for implementation.
As per the new sports merit marking system, marks will be allotted for participation at each and every level ranging from taluka to district, State and thereafter national and international level and student will have to collect marks by participating in them from the lowest to the highest level.
Through this new scheme, the old practice of direct allotment of 15 marks for participation at the State level irrespective of the achievement has now been done away with.
Participation marks are now to be allotted ranging from 2 to 5 depending on the level of participation.
The allotment is as follows, Taluka (2), District ~ Inter Zone (2), State (3), Inter State ~ Zonal (5), Inter State ~ National (5), and International (5).
In addition to participation, marks have been categorised for winners bagging the first three places in any tournament.
Those bagging the first place will be awarded 7 marks, second place 5 marks and third place 3 marks.
At the international level, 10 marks will be awarded to those securing the first place, 7 for the second place and 5 for the third place.
The final marks allotted to a student will be the sum total they have been awarded at every level. This means that a student participating at taluka, district and State level could accumulate as many as 28 marks i.e. (2+7+2+7+3+7).
In case a student does participate in any tournament directly at the State level and wins without participating at the lower levels they would get only 10 marks.
While a student cannot claim multiple benefits at any given level, they can claim benefits for participation in multi discipline sports.
Rebello said that the sports merit marks shall be added to the total marks secured by a student and shown on the marks list.
“This will continue till the Board switches over to the Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation pattern of awarding grades. In that case, the marks will be adjusted while arriving at the ‘Grade Point Average’,” said the Board Chairman.
He also disclosed that the requirement of minimum marks in the external component of theory-practicals shall be reduced to 15 per cent in case of students availing of Sports Merit Marks. The requirement is 21 per cent in all other cases. In addition, the student shall be entitled for the grace marks as per the normal entitlement.