The Maharashtra State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT), has decided to reduce the passing mark for Math and Science subjects in Class 10. The board will lower the marks from 35 to 20 for the students. The decision has been announced in the new State Curriculum Framework-School Education (SCF – SE) for Class 10.
While the board will pass students despite their lower marks, it will not allow them to pursue higher education in Math and Science. The certificates of these students will declare them 'pass', but will prevent them from taking up courses related to Math and Science in higher class. Besides these subjects, the students will be free to pursue other courses in higher education.
The decision will provide greater flexibility to students who scored less as they will now have the option to move to the new class with a note indicating lower scores or appear for a retest to improve their results.
The move is aimed at helping students interested in pursuing subjects such as Humanities and Arts who are forced to drop out if they fail to achieve a minimum marks in Class 10.
Sharad Gosavi, chairman of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, noted that the changes in passing marks will be introduced when the new curriculum is implemented across the state.
Reports cited Rahul Rekhawar, director of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), as saying that the change is part of the new curriculum framework that has already been approved by the school education department. The ‘change is designed to ensure students are not pushed unfairly out of the system,' said Rekhawar.
