Principals flag concerns over spike in pass percentage in govt schools

The spike in pass percentage for students of classes 9 and 11 in Delhi government schools this year based on an assessment-based evaluation has sparked concerns among principals and teachers as these students may have to physically appear for their board exams next year.

On Tuesday, the Directorate of Education (DoE) announced the results of students enrolled in classes 9 and 11 in its schools, recording a spike in overall pass percentage in both the classes compared to last year. Last year too, HT had reported that the pass percentage in both the classes was the highest in five years.

While the pass percentage in Class 9 increased by 15 percentage points to 80.3% this year, Class 11 pass percentage saw a spike of less than one percentage point to 96.9%. Following the compartment exams, the pass percentage in classes 9 and 11 had spiked further to 85% and 99% last year. This is higher than the pass percentage of previous years, which would be around 20 percentage points lower for Class 9 and around 15 percentage points lower for Class 11, for the annual exams conducted in the schools.

Due to the pandemic, the department allowed schools to grant a maximum of 15 marks as “grace marks” to reach the 33% mark “in one or any number of subjects only for promotion to next higher class” in the past two academic sessions for classes 9 and 11 students.

Traditionally, Class 9 pass percentages in Delhi government schools have always been low due to the no-detention policy, which calls for promotion of all students up to Class 8. According to a research report prepared by Boston Consultancy Group last year, “the biggest challenge for Delhi is that the class 9 pass percentage is still as low as 57.8 % (for 2018-19) and has not improved significantly despite the learning reforms in classes 6 to 8.”

Principals at several government schools had engaged in various measures, including targeted intervention for low-performing students, this year ahead of the board exams which were set to be held in April but eventually cancelled.

Sukhbir Singh Yadav, principal at the Government Co-ed Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, Rohini, said, “We are waiting for the guidelines from the department on the matter. While preparing students last year, we had put a system in place to contact students, put them in groups, and teach them together because it helps them learn better. For instance, slow-learners can be taught together so that there is some peer learning as well.”

A senior official from the education department, requesting anonymity, pointed towards the need of looking at the assessment system for the coming years. “The pandemic has raised questions over the one-time board exam pattern and how feasible it is for evaluating students. Going forward, we have to change the way we teach and evaluate students. If there is no change in the assessment and evaluation pattern for board exams next year, some students may face issues,” said the official said adding that the education department will be coming up with guidelines on teaching-learning processes at public schools.

Mary Jyotsna Minj, head of Government Girls Senior Secondary School in New Kondli, said the uncertainty over board examination and the syllabi have made things more difficult for schools. While the Central Board of Secondary Education had rationalised the syllabus of classes 9 to 12 by 30% to mitigate academic losses last year, no such decision has been taken on the matter so far.

“Learning outcome has gone down because online classrooms do not give the real essence of formal classroom teaching. There is barely any takeaway for students. These students who have now been promoted to classes 10 and 12 are trained in the assessment mode and if they appear for board exams in regular mode, it will be a problem for them. We faced several issues last year in helping low-performing students prepare for the board exams this year,” she said.