KOCHI: Even as the state recorded the highest ever pass percentage in SSLC examination, experts raised concerns about the evaluation system and called the liberal marking system a dangerous trend. Educationists and officials of CBSE schools in the state said that such a high pass percentage and huge number of students securing A+ grade in all subjects raise doubts whether students were given the marks they did not deserve.
They said that it might affect the quality of students who would find it tough to meet the challenges when they join for higher education. Moreover, the high pass percentage contradicts reports of ineffectiveness of online education in the last one year and raises a question whether offline classes are needed anymore.
Educationist PK Ravindran said that giving marks to students in a liberal way is fine during the pandemic but the authorities should not give them undeserving marks by diluting the evaluation criteria. “Giving undeserving marks to students will make them think that they have those strong academic abilities which they don’t really have. The parents too will be overconfident about their children’s academic quality, which will be dangerous in future,” he said.
Ravindran also said if online education can result in such a high result, it questions the relevance of schools and teachers.
Ibrahim Khan, president of Kerala CBSE Schools Management Association, said that the trend of liberal marking system in state schools will affect the standard of general education and the assessment of the quality of the students. “If an undeserving student secures A+ grade in all subjects, he will not be able to know his strength and weakness in learning and it would affect him in higher studies,” Khan said.
K A Francis, general secretary, Confederation of Sahodaya Complexes, said that the latest results showed the dilution in assessing the quality of students. “If students think they will get high marks without much effort, they will lose the seriousness in studies. Moreover, such a liberal marking system will increase the disparity between the marks of SSLC students and other-stream students,” he said.
