Responding to the hue and cry raised over the abysmal pass percentage in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) public examination in the State, the government has decided to give one chance to the students who did not score the minimum qualifying marks, to fare better and get through the 10th class examinations.
The State Board of Secondary Education will allocate the division (first/second/third) to students who pass the supplementary exams, on the basis of marks obtained by them. The SSC advanced supplementary exams are scheduled from July 6 to 15 and teachers have been instructed to take “remedial classes” and help the children pass the 10th Class exams.
The Education Department authorities have also proposed to allow students who obtained below 50% of marks in the SSC public examinations, to write the supplementary exams for further improving their scores. “We are waiting for the government nod on this,” said S. Suresh Kumar, Director, School Education Department.
The special concession is being extended to this year’s batch of SSC students who lost valuable academic time due to COVID-19 pandemic that kept schools closed for the longest period. Left with minimum time to prepare for their public examinations, more than two lakh students failed in the exam, registering the lowest pass percentage in the last 20 years.
The officials made it clear that this was a one-time measure being implemented for only the academic year 2021-22 exams. For students who passed the exams but plan to write the supplementary test to improve their performance, the best marks in either of the exams (regular/improvement) would be taken into consideration for the final pass certificate.