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Latest News |
| 22nd
January 2010 / Times of India / Pune Edition |
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SSC board clears ‘best of five’
policy
Mumbai: After over two years of deliberation, the SSC
board has finally passed the ‘best of five’
policy for junior college admissions. According to this
system, instead of calculating a student’s percentage
in all six subjects at the SSC, the score will be calculated
for the best five subjects only, a system that has been
adopted by other boards like ICSE and CBSE.
“Students have to pass in English and Marathi. If
they fail in any one of the remaining subjects, they can
still get a seat in junior college, as the marks for that
subject will not be counted,” said Fr Francis Swamy,
principal of Holy Family School, Andheri, and a member
of the SSC board.
While the decision has been in the pipeline for long,
it was cleared by the state board last week. It is awaiting
a final nod from the government before it can be implemented.
“The system was passed by the executive council
as well as the general body of the SSC board,” said
Shridhar Salunkhe, chairperson of the Mumbai division
of the SSC board. Several rounds of talks were held before
the decision was passed, including a recent crucial meeting
with the state board chairperson and all the divisional
chairpersons in Maharashtra.
“This system is already in place for other boards
like the ICSE and CBSE. Now we want to implement the system
for the SSC, to bring parity between all boards during
college admissions,” said Salunkhe. This is one
of the most acceptable solutions towards creating a common
platform for students from the various education boards
who apply to junior colleges for admission.
CBSE students appear for five subjects. While some schools
offer an additional subject, this is optional and the
marks are not counted.
While ICSE students appear for seven subjects, the ICSE
board counts the marks in the best five subjects. An ICSE
student has to pass in English as well as four other subjects
to pass the exam.
ICSE students are hopeful that, once the policy is implemented
for the SSC board, the same will be applied to the ICSE
during college admissions.
Two years ago, the state government introduced a system
of “marks normalisation” which involved calculating
a student’s percentile marks during admissions,
using a formula prescribed by the government. ICSE and
CBSE board parents challenged the system in court, as
they felt the formula favoured SSC students, and the high
court threw the system out.
A year later, the government announced that 90% of all
seats in junior college would be reserved for SSC students.
This too was challenged and later thrown out by the HC.
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