Govt wakes up to poor show

Newindpress, 27th June, 2008

Express News Service
CUTTACK: Students’ performance in the High School Certificate (HSC) examinations this year has plunged to a four-year low registering a pass percentage of 53.14, prompting the State Government to initiate a recheck of the state of affairs in the schools under the Board of Secondary Education (BSE). Results of the examinations were declared on Wednesday.Last year, the pass percentage was 59.09, while in 2006 and 2005 it was 56.4 and 55.6 respectively. Kalahandi recorded the lowest success rate of 32.58 percent while Balasore was at the top with 69.34.School and Mass Education Minister Sanjeev Kumar Sahoo said the Department would immediately go into the circumstances that caused a fall of as much as 6 percent in the results. All the circle inspectors of schools in the State have been asked to submit individual reports on the reasons behind such results, state of the schools including all aspects of infrastructure, teachers and faculty as well as study atmosphere. Explanation has also been sought on their conduct of inspection on the schools, the Minister said.BSE authorities attributed the poor results to the changes in syllabus like introduction of optional subjects and practicals. Lack of adequate teachers to deal with the specialised subjects introduced in the syllabus was also a reason. ‘It is a period of transition. The system, including the teachers and students, has not been able to adapt to the new process. More stringent measures to conduct exams in a fair manner have also contributed,’ BSE president Arun Kumar Samantray said.The conduct of examinations and publications of results this year in the aftermath of the infamous scandal last year involving the then Education Minister Bishnu Charan Das and his son, had also been embroiled in no less controversies. There has been almost a month’s delay in publication of results this year and the process of evaluation and printing of marksheets was subjected to intense scrutiny in the public sphere.