Students appearing for optional common entrance test will be given preference for Class 11 admissions based on their score.
Confirming the cancellation of the State Board examinations for Class 10, Maharashtra School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad announced the StateтАЩs plan for the assessment of students on Friday. The government has also announced an optional common entrance test (CET) for Class 11 admissions.
According to the StateтАЩs assessment plan, each subject will have 100 marks, which will be divided into three categories. тАЬThe internal assessment of written assignments of the entire year will have 30 marks. Homework, oral test and practical exam will have 20 marks and subject-wise result of Class 9 will have 50 marks. The final result of Class 10 will be based 50% on the studentтАЩs performance in Class 9 and 50% in Class 10,тАЭ said Ms. Gaikwad.
She said that students who were not satisfied with the results by the above method would have the opportunity to appear in the next two consecutive examinations under the grade improvement scheme as and when the pandemic situation normalised.
тАЬA seven-member committee will be formed at every school to monitor the result process. The result is planned to be announced by June-end, and therefore all schools must follow the timetable,тАЭ she added.
A timetable for completing the student assessment process would be announced soon by the Board.
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The seven-member committee will be led by headmaster to regulate the results, while the records of these results would be verified by the officials of the School Education Department at the divisional level, the Minister said, while warning of disciplinary action in case of irregularities or alteration of records at the school level.
Students could appear for the CET for admission to Class 11. тАЬThis will be an optional test. This is being done to maintain uniformity among students taking admissions to Class 11 since the Class 10 results will be based on internal assessment,тАЭ she said.
Ms. Gaikwad said that the CET would be based on the Class 10 syllabus of the State Board and that there would be multiple choice questions for the 2-hour, 100-mark exam conducted by the optical mark recognition (OMR) method.
Those who appeared for the CET would be given preference for junior college admissions based on their score. After the spots for those who had appeared for the CET were filled, those who did not appear for the CET would be considered for admission.
The Bombay High Court had questioned the State government on cancelling Class 10 exams but the State government decided to maintain its earlier stand of not conducting exams during the pandemic.
Ms. Gaikwad said that the decision to cancel the examination was taken by the State Cabinet keeping the health of the students as a priority. тАЬThe decision has been taken by the State government to pass all students based on internal assessment. We held over 24 meetings with different stakeholders such as experts in education field, teachers, principals, elected representatives, parent organisations and technology companies,тАЭ she said.
The State government had earlier cancelled the Class 10 Board exams, which were scheduled to be held from April 28 to May 21, in wake of the alarming spike in case during the second wave of COVID-19.
Ms. Gaikwad, along with other State Education Ministers, had recently participated in a high-level meeting with Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank to discuss the conduct of the Central Board of Secondary Education Class 12 exams amid speculation over a possible third wave of the pandemic.
During the meeting, Ms. Gaikwad had said that the option of a non-examination route for Class 12 students ought to be actively considered in view of the grim pandemic situation and the possibility of children and school staff being vulnerable to new virus strains.
