Making it to college with grace marks

A file picture of students appearing in exam

Law Kumar Mishra

Patna, August 7

A good number of students would join the higher education in Bihar without “passing” the higher secondary or 12^th class exam.

The spread of Covid-19 and the situation arising out of it had come as a big breather for the students who had failed the board exam in one or two subjects. The number of such students is 132000 across the state.

“During the ongoing Corona crisis and lockdown, compartmental examinations are not possible,” state’s education minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma said. The one-time exemption has been given in view of the Covid 19 pandemic.

Besides 12^th class, grace marks would be given to high school students who also could not make it to the high school in the first attempt. In all, 280,000 students would be benefitted.

The decision of Bihar School Examination Board would push 350000 students of both the classes to enter the advanced level of education.

The minister said even if examinations were conducted in October, results may come in December that would leave no scope for the students for their admission in institutes of higher education. Their academic session could have been destroyed, Verma said while defending the decision of the board.

Academicians castigated the decision, stating it was politically motivated in view of the ensuing assembly elections.

Bihar School Examination Board had been in the news in 2016 when the five toppers of the Intermediate examinations were arrested and sent to jail on charges of impersonation and fabricating the documents. Inter topper Ruby Rai had described political science as Prodigal science.

Bihar police had set up special investigating team and arrested three centre superintendents, two officials of the Board and director of a Vaishali based inter college from where most of the toppers came.

In 1967, Bihar government under the SVD government had introduced the Pass without English class as the then education minister Karpoori Thakur steered the anti-English movement launched by Ram Manohar Lohiya.