CBSE results : 499 out of 500 :: Raining marks all over
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 03 2019 -

It is raining marks for CBSE students with the girl topper in this year’s Class XII examinations securing 499 marks out of 500.

Just a mark less to secure the perfect 10.

And mind you there was not one but two students who secured 499 out of 500.

Three more students have secured 498 out of 500 and clearly it is raining marks for those who did slog it out and worked hard for the Class XII board examinations.

One may see the same pattern when the Council of Indian School Certificate Examination announces the 12th or Indian School Certificate examination results.

In the absence of other parameters to judge the performance of the students, it will be marks for now, but it would be foolhardy to conclude that the students who secured 498 out of 500 are lesser than the students who secured 499.

Likewise it would be wrong to say or assume that the students who secured 490 or 485 marks out of 500 are less brilliant than the ones who secured above 490 marks.

The students have done well and that is what matters the most here.

With a pass percentage of 83.4, this is a marginal improvement, if one may call it, from the previous year when the pass percentage was pegged at 83 percent.

Likewise the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur (COHSEM) too will follow suit soon and one can expect the results any day from now.

If the past is any indication, there will be bouquets galore for the students who make it to the top 25 positions.

Schools will go all the way to hog the limelight and in the process set themselves as the destination to be for thousands of students after they finish their Class X boards.

No doubt it is marks, marks all the way but let it also be clear to the parents and guardians that marks cannot and should not be the sole parameter to judge the merit of the students alone.

For the students who have done well, it is good and proper, but for students who have not made it to the bracket of ‘exceptional performance,’ there are avenues open for them.

This is where parents and elders of society need to broaden their horizons and see the potential in each child.

As noted earlier, in a short while from now, the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur too will announce the Class XII exam results and while everyone must be keenly awaiting the results, it will be marks alone which will dictate the course the young students will have to take for their further studies.

The fixation with marks is such that one may expect universities like Delhi University to fix ludicrously high cut offs for admission to its affiliated colleges.

In fact situation was such that a student wishing to change course after their Class XII would have needed to score more than 100 percent as a certain percentage is docked for changing courses.

So a student from the Science stream would have needed to score cent percent to change to a subject other than Science such as Economics, if the qualifying point is given as 97.5 percent in the first cut off and the percentage to be docked is 2.5 pc.

It is that time of the year and it will be about exams and marks in the days to come.