West Bengal: HS formula won’t do justice, says Principals

KOLKATA: Several college principals have questioned the formula that the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education has drafted for the final score of Class XII board-year students, pointing out the marking will not indicate the candidates’ aptitude for the subjects they will apply for in undergraduate courses.
After the state board exams of classes X and XII were cancelled to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education came up with strategies to compute the final scores of these board-year students.

For Higher Secondary final scores, 40% weightage will be given to four best scores out of seven theory papers in their Madhyamik, which they took in 2019, and 60% weightage to the theory paper scores of their Class XI school annual exams, along with the marks scored in practicals for science subjects or projects for non-lab subjects.
With admission tests at Calcutta University-affiliated colleges being discontinued since 2019, the institute heads said they would have to admit students on the new-formulated Class XII scores, unless instructed otherwise. “These students started on their Class XI annual exams in 2020, when the pandemic struck.
The lockdown was declared, as a result of which the council-set science theory papers of physics, chemistry and statistics and all the practical exams were cancelled.
Now, if 60% weightage is given to Class XI marks and XII practicals, the XI annual scores will not reflect the right picture and will not indicate the strength and weakness of students in those three subjects, even if they score well in the aggregate and apply for physics, chemistry and stats,” said the principal of a CU college. In Arts too, several papers were cancelled, including nutrition & home science.
Also, 40% weightage to the best four Madhyamik subjects might not include the scores of the subject a candidate would want to study in college, another principal said.
Another principal explained how the evaluation procedure might rob a deserving candidate of a college seat, while some other students, with very high score, may get to study a subject he or she does not have a knack for. “Last year, physics, chemistry and statistics theory papers of Class XI annual exams were cancelled because of the lockdown.
A student good in these subjects never got an opportunity to take the test and received his/her marks based on performance in other subjects, like English and Bengali. Many science students do not score high in non-science subjects. So, a Class XII student, who now wants to pursue science at the UG level, has not taken exams in those subjects for the past two years. This will be disadvantageous when he/she applies for admission,” said the principal.
“Similarly, somebody excelling in English, Bengali or history also scored high in science subjects in Class XI last year because marks were awarded on the papers that could be held. That student, despite having no aptitude for science subjects, may secure seats in chemistry, physics or statistics honours, just because of the calculation,” the principal added.