Sibal plan: Bengal, Kerala see red

Orissa, Left-Ruled States Apart, Mixed Feelings Greet HRD Min’s Edu Reforms Ideas

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: State education ministers and examination boards warmed up to the reform proposals of HRD minister Kapil Sibal with the exception of the Leftruled Kerala and Bengal and also Orissa.

UP took a leaf out of Sibal’s book and CM Mayawati became the first one to announce a grading system for the state board exams from the next academic session to ease academic pressure. But it rejected the plan to junk the board exams and was cautious on the recommendations of establishing a single secondary board with a uniform curriculum. The BJP government in Gujarat said what Sibal was talking about now was first mooted by the state.

Mayawati said performance will be judged on the basis of marks scored in the best five of the total six subjects and there will be supplementary exams to help the students. District-level committees headed by district magistrates will be set up to regulate fees in public and private schools, she added.

“These days Class XII has become a basic educational qualification. In such a situation making Class XII exam as an external examination instead of Class X is not a bad move,’’ said H P Bhattacharya, Assam’s director of state council for education research and training.

The Jharkhand government, too, welcomed the move. “The proposed system will help in churning out better talent,’’ said state HRD secretary Mridula Sinha.

The Andhra government was cautious. “Kapil Sibal’s proposal is good for the students and the state. But it has to be studied in its entirety. A decision will be taken only after a thorough examination of the proposal,’’ said secondary education minister Manikya Varaprasada Rao.

Rajasthan’s exam board officials were apprehensive. Eradicating board exams is a revolutionary idea. A lot of deliberation is required before taking any step towards its implementation, said a senior education officer in Jaipur, who asked not to be named. “Recently the US President attributed the excellence of Indian students to the long durations they spent in classrooms. This zeal to spend time studying may be due to the examination pressure,’’ the official added.

Kerala, West Bengal and Orissa were unanimous in opposing Sibal. M A Baby, education minister of Left-ruled Kerala said the Centre should not take unilateral decisions on doing away with Class X exams. Baby sought an “urgent meeting’’ of state education ministers to evolve a consensus. “This is something that needs to be discussed more. Education is on the concurrent list and as such, the Centre cannot take a unilateral decision,’’ Baby told TOI. “Im not averse to reforms being implemented at any level, but it should be academically sound and respect the federal polity.’’

Baby’s Bengal counterpart Partho De said he would “go all out’’ to oppose the plan. “This would lead to mayhem. How can you scrap Class X exam by just saying it is stressful? Is this a joke?’’ De asked. “The syllabus at Class X level in Bengal was revised in such a manner that the flab has gone and students study the bare essential. So where is the stress?’’ On Sibal’s plan of one board for the country, De said nothing could be “more weird’’. “It’s a vast country and each state has needs that only a state-run board can satisfy,” he said.

In Orissa, educationists strongly opposed the move saying it would “ruin’’ the students’ future. “It’s a thoughtless proposal,’’ said K Panda, secretary, Orissa Secondary School Teachers’ Association.

All in a day: Boy gets 90%, loses house

Bharati Dubey | TNN

Thursday came with not just its share of good and bad news students, but some poignant moments too. Saddam Husain Pathan woke up to find he had achieved a dream score of 90% in his SSC exams. But the same day the 16-year-old was served an eviction notice by the BEST, to vacate the Santa Cruz quarter where he had been staying. “My father, Hasim Pathan, a driver with BEST, died about two years ago of cancer. BEST allowed us to stay in the house for two years and even extended our stay after a March deadline due to my SSC exams. Unfortunately today morning we were asked to vacate it. I am now shifting to Kashimira with my mother and brother.”

The student of Sane Guruji Vidya Mandir in Santa Cruz wants to be an electrical engineer. “I will take admission in science or do a diploma in electrical engineering.”

Municipal school results dip to 60%

Sukhada Tatke | TNN

Mumbai: Four municipal school students scored above 90% in the SSC examinations, but the pass percentage in the city’s 49 civic schools was lower this time as compared to 2008. While 72.27% students had managed to clear the examinations in 2008, the number dropped to 60% this year.

Last year, 6,019 students had appeared for the examination, and 4,350 had cleared it. This year, while the number of students appearing for the examination increased to 7,912, only 4,753 managed to pass.

Civic officials attribute this drop to the fact that they had been easy on students in the ninth standard and had promoted almost all of them to the tenth standard. “We did not want to detain students in Class IX. We wanted to see if they fare well. If a student is failed in Class IX when all his counterparts go to Class X it brings his confidence down. But this doesn’t seem to have worked. We will see about next year,’’ said Chandrakant Rokde, deputy municipal commissioner (education).

But there were bright spots as well. Nitesh Padatkar of Byculla Municipal School, the city topper in the category, scored 92.15%, followed by Vinita Velvankar of Malad’s Topiwala School with 91.76%, and Vijay Bhange of Byculla Municipal School with 90.46%. “We had also started a special batch last year where we gave separate training to some kids. Of that batch, Nilesh Karkar from Prabhadevi Municipal School scored 90.15%,’’ said Ujjwala Modhak, member of the education committee.

Additional municipal commissioner Madhav Sangle said the objective of municipal schools was to get maximum students to appear for the SSC examination. “Our students are from very underprivileged sections of society. They need to clear the SSC to get any job. Some of them go on to do extremely well. For such exceptional students, we are even introducing three junior colleges,’’ he added.

Girls lead the victory parade, again

Anahita Mukherji & Hemali Chhapia | TNN

Mumbai: The results that trickled in from the SSC scores were crystal clear — girls were number one, yet again, and in every category. Not only did girls top in every section — state, city, night school, backward or handicapped category— they also had a higher pass percentage compared to boys, like every other year in both HSC and SSC.

Latur’s Shilpa Hiremath was numero uno, with an eye-popping 98.61%, while Thane’s Sonali Chavan topped the Mumbai division with a score of 96.46%. Mumbai’s night school topper, Sonal Singh, who scored 84.15%, was also the state topper in the category. Again, of the six students in the top three, five were girls. Another five students made it to the merit list for the backward-class category, of which four were girls.

Boys had a pass percentage of 78.66% this year, while girls were way ahead with a pass percentage of 82.10%.

Of the divisions, Latur, which missed the state topper’s position to Kolhapur last year and to Aurangabad in 2007, reclaimed the impressive position it held in 2006, and registered a pass percentage of 81.40%, making it fourth in the state.

Vijaysheela Sardesai, chairperson of the state board said the performance of repeaters across the state had improved, boosting Maharashtra’s success rate.

This year, Mumbai had the lowest number of cheating cases across the state, while Nagpur had the highest. This, despite the fact that there was a five-fold increase in the number of copying cases detected in Mumbai this year. “For the first time, we had warned supervisors that they, too, would be penalised for students found cheating at their centres,’’ said Basanti Roy, secretary of the Mumbai division of the board. Moreover, the results of a number of students were withheld this year because they could not furnish the necessary documents for the exam.

In addition to conducting exams, for the first time the SSC board has also launched its own 21-point programme for stress free examinations. Pointers for parents, students, principals, teachers and the school management on how to lower stress levels have been put up at 3,500 schools across Mumbai, Thane and Raigad.

WINNERS ALL: Mumbai topper Sonali Chavan (centre) flanked by Shefali Mhadadalkar (left) and Tejal Pradhan, second and third in the city respectively

Hutment razed not the will to do well

Sharmila Ganesan Ram | TNN

When Arif Shaikh got his SSC marksheet, he could sense its power to bring a smile on his parents’ faces. Arif, who had scored 71.69%, wished he could call them immediately. But that wasn’t possible as neither do they have cellphones, nor does his plastic home opposite the Mahalaxmi station have a landline.

Shaikh lives on the street, in a home that’s made of plastic and bamboo, in anticipation of the familiar municipality bulldozer. Almost every six months, his illegal house, which encroaches on railway property, is reduced to rubble, leaving the family of four roofless.

It happened last December just before Shaikh’s preliminary examinations. His mother, a housewife, was away tending to his ailing grandfather in their village while his father, a housekeeper, and brother, a small steel company employee, were at work. Along with his house, a table fan and his brother’s watch also disappeared, probably stolen by a neighbour. So this student of Marvadi Vidyalaya in Mahalaxmi had to bunk lectures at his Lower Parel coaching class where he had been enrolled by Akanksha, an NGO for street kids. Since the family couldn’t pay electricity bills, that too was cut off. A kerosene lamp at his house would light up only a quarter of the shanty. So at night, the 15-year-old would go to his cousin’s home near Race Course, to study. He stopped eating before exams, “as I was tensed.’’

The forced starvation paid off and an ecstatic Arif, who scored 80 in English, wants to study commercial art. Something he decided, perhaps, while helping his brother build a new makeshift shanty with bamboos.

Govt backs scrapping Std X board exam

Minister Says If Students Study Up To Std XII In Same School, There’s No Need For External SSC Assessment

Prafulla Marpakwar | TNN

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has expressed support for Union human resources development minister Kapil Sibal’s proposal to scrap Std X board exams, saying there is no need for constant evaluation of students before they reach Std XII. However, state minister of higher, technical and medical education, Rajesh Tope, said, “I feel that before taking a final decision, there should be a wider debate on the reforms in education.’’

Sibal and others on Thursday welcomed the reforms proposed by Sibal. “The concept is c e r t a i n ly revolutionary. In my opinion, there is no need for the Class X board exam. There must be a debate and we must expedite the decision-making process,’’ Tope told TOI. Tope observed that it is high time that the academic community and the government examines the stages of a student’s evaluation. “If students are in the same school from Std I to XII, there is no need for their frequent evaluation,’’ said Tope, a mechanical engineer-turned politician.

Endorsing Sibal’s views, a senior education department official said that while there is debate about a single board conducting the HSC examination, there is unanimity on abolishing the Class X board exam. “In view of the introduction of the 10-plus-2 exam system, the Class X exam has lost its significance. We feel that a decision on abolishing the Class X exam should be taken forthwith,’’ the official said. The official said that when most schools have internal exams for Std VII, the same pattern should be followed for Class X. Since the Class X exam is conducted by the state board, at least 20% of the students who don’t succeed are thrown out of the m a i n s t re a m . “This is a national loss, as many of them give up further education,’’ he said.

The official said, Sibal rightly pointed out that if the Class X exam is abolished, it would reduce the burden not only on students, but parents too. “Let there be less tension and less trauma for students and parents. We must support the steps initiated by the Yashpal committee on education reforms and the proposals made by Sibal,’’ he added.

OPTIONAL STD X BOARD EXAMS: Sibal is taking up the proposal to make Class X board exams optional, especially when a student continues in the same school. Is abolishing the Std X board exam the right way to reduce stress for students? It would water down system

I don’t think this is a good suggestion. Let’s not water down our education system which is looked upon with respect by many foreign education systems. Scrapping the Class X board exam is not the answer to ridding our students of stress. We have to think of other ways to make the system stress-free. We can allow students to explore hobbies together with excelling at their academics.
—Fr Francis Swamy | PRINCIPAL, HOLY FAMILY HIGH SCHOOL

What about accountability?
I have certain reservations about this, because it would imply that schools would get autonomy and that would make accountability a big issue. If Std X boards are abolished, I hope schools make sure they deliver quality education.
—Avnita Bir | PRINCIPAL OF R N PODAR HIGH SCHOOL

Std X boards are a burden
The Std X board exams are a burden on 15-year-old students who are under severe pressure to score well. The problem is so acute that tuitions have become the norm rather than the option. It appears that only tutorial classes are dominating the education scene. Poor students who cannot afford the high fees of tuition classes lose out in such a situation.
—Carl Laurie | PRINCIPAL,
CHRIST CHURCH SCHOOL

Syllabus would be repeated
If there are no Std X board examinations, the colleges would not know which of the students are academically inclined. Optional Std X board exams would mean that all the students would end up studying the same thing for two years. It would defeat the idea of the students becoming independent.
—Yasmin Chagla | PRINCIPAL, CUMBALLA HILL HIGH SCHOOL

Schools may not be sincere
I have my concerns about making the Std X board examinations optional. Internal exams conducted by schools would not have uniformity across different institutions. Some institutions might conduct exams sincerely, while others might not because of the lack of an outside agency.
—Manju Nichani | PRINCIPAL, K C COLLEGE

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I don’t think doing away with the Std X board examinations is a solution. Ultimately, educational institutions have to have some yardstick with which to select their students. Even in the USA, one does have the SAT.
—Pradeep Kulkarni | PRINCIPAL, RUPAREL COLLEGE

Compiled by Madhavi Rajadhyaksha, Mansi Choksi and Mahafreed Irani

USE GRADES, NOT MARKS: Another proposal is to replace marks with grades for Std IX and X students in CBSE-affiliated schools. Do you think thiswould reduce stress for students and better gauge learning?

It would reduce pressure, I feel that this is a very good suggestion. It makes sense and is a good way of reducing pressure on students.
—Fr Francis Swamy | PRINCIPAL, HOLY FAMILY HIGH SCHOOL

Wait and watch
This is something that the CBSE board has been trying to work out. We will have to see how the situation develops. It would, however, reduce the burden on students and would cut down on a lot of this cut-throat competition involving percentages.
—Avnita Bir | PRINCIPAL OF R N PODAR HIGH SCHOOL

Implement this quickly
The grading system can be implemented very quickly and this needs to be done in a hurry. The grading system would be great and the CBSE has already begun talking about it.
—Carl Laurie | PRINCIPAL, CHRIST CHURCH SCHOOL

Students would be free
Grading, instead of marking, is a great idea. Grading is a great system. It would give freedom to students as compared to percentages, which are more specific.
—Yasmin Chagla | PRINCIPAL, CUMBALLA HILL HIGH SCHOOL

Percentages create a lot of stress
I welcome any shift to the grading system as the current system of marking causes a lot of stress among students. At the time of admissions, even just 0.1% can become a deciding factor. This creates creates a lot of pressure on students.
—Manju Nichani | PRINCIPAL, K C COLLEGE

Competition would always be there
Moving from a system of marks to any other system may not change much, as one way or another, students would always end up competing and trying to be ahead of each other. With regard to that, the pressure surrounding the education system or the existence of coaching classes will always remain. These things would always be hard to get rid of as competition would always be there.
—Pradeep Kulkarni | PRINCIPAL, RUPAREL COLLEGE

ACCREDITING SCHOOLS: The Centre wants to explore the possibility of creating an independent authority to accredit school education.
Good idea to assess schools
That’s a good idea because it would be an authentic way of assessing the school and will be a way of encouraging them.
—Fr Francis Swamy | PRINCIPAL, HOLY FAMILY HIGH SCHOOL

Unbiased body needed
This is an important step. We need an unbiased and nonpartisan body that would carry out quality checks and device a systematic ranking system.
—Avnita Bir | PRINCIPAL, R N PODAR HIGH SCHOOL

Keep govt out
It would be a wonderful idea to have an independent body to accredit and assess schools. The government should be kept out of it. As the saying goes, “That government is best which governs least.’’ Instead of bureaucrats, educationists like former vice-chancellors, registrars and principals should be on the body.
—Carl Laurie | PRINCIPAL, CHRIST CHURCH SCHOOL

It would create elitism
It is an American and Australian idea to have accreditation. But I am not in favour of this, because it would only create an elitist system where all the A-grade schools employ the A-grade teachers and hence attract all the A-grade students. The poor students would end up being left out, because in such a system they may not be able to afford these elitist schools.
—Yasmin Chagla | PRINCIPAL,

CUMBALLA HILL HIGH SCHOOL
Single body enough?
This might help serve a purpose. The accreditation could address concerns regarding the quality in the education system across the country. However, again, one has to assess whether one single body would be enough for all the institutions across the entire country.
—Manju Nichani | PRINCIPAL, K C COLLEGE

No comment
I am yet to see the Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal’s statements on this particular matter, and until I do I cannot comment on this subject.
—Pradeep Kulkarni | PRINCIPAL, RUPAREL COLLEGE

UNIFIED BOARD: Union human resources development minister Kapil Sibal has talked about having a unified board and unified board exams. Will this make the system fairer and reduce stress for students when they choose which college to attend?

Keep different boards
It is my opinion that we should not be too hasty in creating a unified board exam. I feel that we should keep the different boards because each of them has unique features and students can profit from them. But I do feel that there should be a common evaluation system even though there is different content. That way there would be no question of the quota system, no superiority bias and no discrimination amongst different students.
—Fr Francis Swamy | PRINCIPAL, HOLY
FAMILY HIGH SCHOOL, ANDHERI

Idea whose time has come I feel this is an excellent idea, especially as it’s coming at a time when Mumbai is reeling under the 90:10 crisis. In fact, this is something that has been long time coming considering that we are now living in a globalized world. It would help mobility within the country. If a student wants to move from one part of the country to another, it would be much easier.
—Avnita Bir | PRINCIPAL, R N
PODAR SCHOOL, SANTA CRUZ

An idealistic notion
The move to unify boards is an idealistic notion that would not be easy to implement. Education is a state subject and individual states won’t leave their golden goose so easily. This rule will take 20 to 30 years to be implemented.
—Carl Laurie | PRINCIPAL, CHRIST
CHURCH SCHOOL, BYCULLA

Can’t kill cash cow easily
Education is a lucrative business and with many schools being run by industrialists and politicians, implementing the unified board system is only an idealistic dream because it would take away the profits earned. Also, it may not practically work because it would mean having a uniform exam and invigilation would be very difficult. This would also encourage a lot of mugging from study guides.
—Yasmin Chagla | PRINCIPAL, CUMBALLA HILL HIGH SCHOOL, OFF NEPEAN SEA ROAD

Good idea, but expensive
A unified board would be the best thing to happen, as we wouldn’t have problems such as the 90:10. But it is worth questioning whether the government is going to spend that kind of money on education? In India, you can’t ignore the cost factor. The government has to clearly define the vision—whether it is mediocrity or quality? For instance, priorities with regard to rural and urban areas are different. While in rural areas, the priority is literacy, in the cities education is the only ambition of children.
—Manju Nichani | PRINCIPAL, K C
COLLEGE, CHURCHGATE

1 board, 1 syllabus, 1 exam
I fully agree with Sibal on the need need for a unified board There should be one board, one syllabus and one examination all over India, just like in the United States, which has the SAT. That would definitely take a lot of pres sure off the students, as preparation would be limited to appearing for one exam.
—Pradeep Kulkarni | PRINCIPAL
RUPAREL COLLEGE, MATUNGA

Students may not have to repeat a year

Anahita Mukherji | TNN

Mumbai: If you’ve failed a couple of papers in the SSC exam, there’s a chance you will not lose out on an entire year this time round. For the first time, the state education department is planning to allow students to re-appear for the papers they failed in a month after the results, instead of waiting till October to do so.

“We hope to implement the proposal from this year itself. We have forwarded this proposal to the Maharashtra state board of education and have asked them to revert within the next week,’’ said Maharashtra’s school education minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil.

“This way, students will save a year of study. Students who have failed in a maximum of two subjects will be able to avail of this facility. If this proposal is implemented, then the October re-examinations may be scrapped,’’ he added.

According to Basanti Roy, secretary of the Mumbai Division of the state board, this is an excellent idea and will benefit students. “It is already being implemented in certain states in India,’’ she said