Explained: Why ‘internal marks’ have returned to Maharashtra schools, what else has changed in Board exams

After it was found that schools give full marks to students in internal tests, even if they were absent for the exam, the School Education Department had formed a study group consisting of experts from the State Board and textbook publishing bureaus to come up with a new marking pattern.

In July 2017, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) issued a circular stating that internal exams for Class 9 (from the academic year 2017-2018) and for Class 10 (from academic year 2018-2019), would be scrapped. This meant that the students would have to attempt 100-mark papers in these subjects, rather than the earlier 80:20 pattern. Education department officials had said this was aimed at reducing the inflation of scores.

So what happened after the decision was implemented?

The new paper pattern affected the scores of several SSC students, causing a dip of over 12 per cent in the overall pass percentage, compared to the previous year. It also caused anxiety among SSC students with regard to securing admissions in city’s top colleges, given that the pass percentage of their counterparts from other boards was high.

A substantial number of students from other Boards such as ICSE and CBSE had scored above 95 per cent. Parents of many wards had protested and approached the government to allow their wards a level playing field vis-a-vis students of other boards.

What did the government do to address these concerns?

The government in July set up a committee to study the evaluation norms of various Boards. This committee submitted a report asking for the revival of internal marks.

Are there other changes in the evaluation process?

A new subject, “Jalsuraksha” (Water security) has been added to the curriculum for Environmental Science, and the subject will now be graded. Due to this, for Class 11 from the academic year 2019-2020, and for Class 12 from the academic year 2020-2021, total assessment will be for 600 marks instead of 650 marks.

For internal marks in Class 9 and 10 for languages, borrowing from the CBSE, listening and oratory skills will be made part of the internal assessment.

For social sciences, internal marks will be based on homework, multiple-choice questions and activities.

For Classes 11 and 12, internal marks will be based on continuous evaluation instead of year-end evaluation. Class 11 and Class 12 final exams will be based on their respective yearly portions. For written exams, borrowing from the CBSE, 25 per cent marks will be allotted for multiple-choice questions.