MSBSHSE or the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary And Higher Secondary Education has decided to revise the old decision to abolish the practice of including the internal marks scored by students in its State Board.
When it became evident that schools give full marks to even students who were not present for the internal exams, the School Education Department formed a study group of experts from the state board and textbook publishing bureaus. This group decided to do away with the system of “internal marks” and came up with a new marking pattern.
The MSBSHSE had earlier issued a circular in July 2017, stating the decision to scrap the internal exams for Class 9 (from the academic year 2017-2018) and for Class 10 (from the academic year 2018-2019). Following this, the students had to attempt 100- mark papers for the board exams for these subjects, rather than the earlier pattern of 80:20. Officials of the Education Department thought that this was an attempt to reduce the inflation of scores.
After the new pattern came into effect, the scores of various Maharashtra Board SSC students saw a dip, with a fall of almost 12% in the overall pass percentage, as compared to the previous year. It also caused stress and anxiety amongst the SSC students. They were worried about securing admissions to top colleges of the city, in the face of higher pass percentages by their counterparts from other boards.
Many students from CBSE, as well as ICSE, scored above 95%. Hence, the parents of the Maharashtra Board Students also approached the Government to offer the students a more level playing field alongside the other board students. In return, the Government organized a committee in July to assess the evaluation norms of all the boards. These committee put forward the report asking for the revival of “Internal Marks.”
Now, almost a month following the announcement of the return of internal assessment by schools, the state education department on Friday has also issued a revised marking scheme for Goa Board Classes 9 and 10. The circular also lays emphasis on the introduction of a new paper pattern to go in line with the modified marking scheme. As per the scheme, 80 marks are allotted for written tests of subjects like languages and social science, while 20 marks are for internal assessments. Seeing as to how the students will write answers for only 80 mark exam, the wattage of all questions is also expected to come down. Also, other substantial changes are expected following the reintroduction of the oral questions. For languages, where the students had summary writing for 6 marks, especially for 3rd and 2nd languages, as per the latest pattern, they have an option to choose letter writing as an alternative to the question.
Additional changes include the addition of a new subject “Jal Suraksha (Water Security)” in the curriculum for Environmental Science, which will also be graded. For Class 11 (from the academic year 2019-2020) and for Class 12 (in the following academic year 2020-2021), the total assessment marks will be for 600 instead of 650 marks. For internal marks of Class 9 and 10 for Languages, following the same format as CBSE, listening and oratory skills were made a part of the internal assessment. At the same time, for Social Sciences, the internal marks will be based on homework, multiple-choice questions, and activities.
Also, for classes 11 and 12, internal marks will be based on continuous evaluation instead of the year-end evaluation. Class 11 and Class 12 final exams conducted, will include the yearly portions. 25% of marks will also be allotted for multiple-choice questions, in the written exams.
