Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has called for a meeting of senior officials on Monday to discuss the possibility of promoting all the 10th class students to higher classes with the coronavirus spreading exponentially thus reducing the chances of conducting the postponed exams.
Though officials are unsure of Chief Minister’s views on this they believe cancelling the exams altogether for this year and promoting them based on some assessment is a big possibility. Going by the High Court’s poser to the government whether it would be able to conduct the SSC exams without even a single student getting affected with the virus there seem to be lesser chances of conducting the exam, an official said seeking anonymity.
Ground situation on the pandemic is getting grimmer and there is no way the government can guarantee that the rigmarole of exams — from conducting to evaluation to declaration of results will be done smoothly. Moreover, the numbers are massive as more than 5 lakh students have to be taken care of. “But a huge decision of cancelling the exams has to be taken by the CM himself,” he said.
Legal issues
Can the students be promoted without landing in further legal battles? Teachers say it is not a big issue as the internal assessment marks for 20% of the total marks is already done, approved by the schools, accepted by the students and uploaded to the government website. So Summative Assessment-I and Summative Assessment-II marks can be calculated for 100% to grade the students. Moreover, it can avoid legal issues in future.
The Punjab government has already promoted its 10th class students based on their 9th Class performance. The same method can be adopted here but some parents may challenge this as some students might not have performed well or rather taken those exams seriously. But SA-I and SA-II are more recent assessments of students with all the knowledge that they play a key role in the final grades. There is another argument of teachers on considering the pre-final marks for final grades but private schools might misuse to secure better grades as the marks are not yet passed onto the government.
Credible option
The only marks available with the government of all students are the SA-1 and SA-II scores and are tamper-proof as of now. So in all options this one looks more credible and can tackle the legal challenges, if any in the future. For institutions like IIIT Basar that consider 10th class marks for admissions, a special entrance can be conducted it it is absolutely necessary, argue some teachers.
Officials say the Chief Minister will seriously delve into these issues before taking a final decision. And in the present circumstances cancellation of exams and grading the students based on internal scores looks a more practical solution.