Hyderabad, May 14: Even as teachers welcome the grading system adopted from this year for the 10 {+t} {+h} class examinations, a section of parents and students point out that the method adopted for grading will be disadvantageous to them. Unlike the CBSE grading system that is static, the State government has adopted the nine-point ‘relative grading’ system.
Subject grades and aggregate grades will be assigned to the candidates depending on their relative performance in the subjects. It means a particular candidate’s grade will not only depend on his/her performance but also on how others perform. In the CBSE mode the grade is decided on the percentage scored by the candidates.
Grades
Under the new system, the top 12.5 per cent of the passed candidates will get A1 grade while students below 12.5 per cent and above 25 per cent will get A2 grade. Students who figure below 25 per cent and above 37.5 per cent will get B1 grade.
The B2 grade will be given to candidates who figure in below 37.5 per cent and above 50 per cent group among all the passed candidates. Similarly, the grade will drop after every 12.5 per cent. But the CBSE gives grades depending on marks. For example students who get marks between 91 to 100 get A1 grade, 81 to 90 will get A2 grade, 71 to 80 will get B1 grade, 61 to 70 will get B2 grade, 51 to 60 will get C1 grade, 41 to 50 will get C2 grade, 33 to 40 will get D grade, 21 to 32 will get E1 grade and those who score below 20 marks will get E2 grade. Parents say in the CBSE mode a student will be given A1 grade if the marks are more than 90. But in the latest system there is no guarantee that same student will get A1 grade as it is reserved for only the top 12.5 per cent of students among all the successful candidates. Our students might end up getting A2 grade if they don’t figure in the top 12.5 per cent despite scoring more than 90 marks. “It is unfair and will affect the morale, more so in such a competitive field,” says a parent.
‘Students will benefit’
But Director of Government Examinations Pronoti Suhasini Kavoori says most of the Western countries follow the relative grade system as the highly meritorious can be differentiated.
She says earlier 60 per cent marks and 95 per cent marks were in the same bracket of ‘first class’ but now they are divided into six bands it separates 60 per cent student from 70 per cent student and so on.
She says the relative system was arrived at after considering several methods adopted in calculating students’ performance. In this method more students will benefit in the higher grade, she says.
Meanwhile, teachers’ organisations welcomed the grading but they too have reservations about relative grading.
“It should have been discussed with teacher organisations,” says Venugopal of APTF and Venkat Reddy of PRTU.
–Agencies