School heads are in confusion in the wake of the State Government decision to declare ‘all pass’ for SSLC students as they find the methodology specified for arriving at the passmark to be impracticable.

The government has suggested that 80 % weightage must be given for quarterly and half-yearly examinations and 20 % for attendance.

It is not unusual for a section of students to skip quarterly or half-yearly exams or even be on leave for lengthy durations as there is no scope for the schools to issue transfer certificate on disciplinary grounds due to the enforcement of EMIS (Educational Management Information System).

“Once a student's name is uploaded in the EMIS data, the school head will no longer be in a position to issue transfer certificate,” a senior headmaster said.

Teachers also say the methodology suggested by the government has come as a bolt from the blue, as it is a normal practice to evaluate performance of students in quarterly and half yearly exams rather strictly so that the students do not become complacent in the run up to the public exam.

The School Education Department had, in the past, issued instruction for uploading the performance of students in quarterly and half-yearly exams in EMIS. Had the directive been followed, it would have been possible for the department to arrive at the consolidated scores of the students based on the formula specified by the government. “At this juncture, the school heads have no idea of the way forward,” he said.

According to a senior official of School Education Department, the practice has been to obtain only the peripheral data pertaining to the number of students, and the pass percentage. Individual marks of students in the term exams have not been collected so far, the official said.

Heads of government schools say they are worried over the scope for some unscrupulous private managements to fudge the data of individual scores by students, taking advantage of the loophole.

Official sources indicated that the Directorate of Government Examinations will shortly be issuing fresh instructions by fine-tuning the methodology.