Parents demand modification of grading system for HSSC exam

PANJIM, MARCH 2
With the final examination for the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) scheduled on March 7, the parents have again revived their demand for modification of grading system for this academic year.
Several parents have suggested that final marks at the time of declaring the results should be higher of the two obtained by the candidate namely internal assessment (20 per cent) plus board performance (80 per cent) or board performance (100 per cent).
The parents have said that the students were not having level playing field as this is the first year of grading for SSC and HSSC exams and also the implementation of the grading itself was marred with lacunas.
A parent said that they had met Education Minister Atanasio Monserratte in a group and were relying on the assurance given by him that he will adopt some positive approach towards the grievances.
“We had met him earlier in June 2010. Again we have made to him a representation in the last week of January, where he assured us that he will do something positive but nothing has come so far,” a lady parent said.
The aggrieved parents have said that there are major flaws in the implementation of the grading system for HSSC. The parents claimed that the circular on grading issued in June 2009 stressed more on grading pattern and very little mention was made about the 20 per cent internal assessment scheme.
The parents also strongly pointed out that the portion of some of the subjects was made available late like for economics portion was given on June 14, 2010, Mathematics June 22, 2010, English Language I and Cooperation on June 19, 2010, accountancy on August 21, 2010 and Hindi Language II on August 27, 2010.
 “The mid-term tests had begun in the month of July itself, when syllabus for few subjects was not made available for the students,” the parents lamented.
The parents alleged that text books for the subjects like French, Secretarial Practice, Biology and Konkani were not available for the students.
“There is no uniformity in the system as papers for internal assessment are set by different institutions on their own so some students have to answer easy while some difficult papers,” the parents complained.
Meanwhile, the parents are also aggrieved by the board decision to prepone the HSSC exam.
“The students are so stressed because of the internal assessment marks and to add to their woes the board decided, somewhere in December to prepone the board exam because of a handful of parents approached them,” the parents accused adding that the reason was that those students answering the IIT entrance exam get more time for preparation.
“Why put about 2,500 students at a disadvantage because of few 150 students?” they questioned.
Clarifying over the issue, the board claimed that it has been done because of the Goa Common Entrance Test (GCET).
“This is not a valid reason. The decision of preponing the exam has left no sufficient gap between two papers leaving no much time for preparation,” the parents said.
This year around 13,765 students are appearing for HSSC exam, which would be held from March 7 to March 28. The maximum number of students appearing for the HSSC exam, are from Commerce stream numbering 4,747 while 3,052 from Arts, 3,379 from Science and 2,587 from Vocational stream. The HSSC exam would be conducted at 13 centers across the State.