Oral exams for SSC scrapped on pilot basis

Mumbai: The idea of scrapping internal assessment – oral examinations – for state board students beginning this academic year (2018-19) is being executed as a pilot project.

 According to officials of the state education department, the project will be examined and as per the results and response from the stakeholders, it will be decided whether or not to continue with the idea.

The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) scrapped the oral examinations which are conducted for language subjects at the school level. These exams carried 20 marks per student, and were assessed by schoolteachers based on students’ performance.

However, last year (2017-18), the board announced that it would scrap this pattern for Class 9 students. The same students would have to follow a similar examination pattern – without oral exam marks (20) – by attempting a 100 marks’ question paper – in their Class 10. The state education department came up with the idea after receiving several complaints about a biased marking system by schools to better their passing percentage.

A senior official from the department said, “We should wait and see how things go because the students are the ones who will either get affected or benefitted. However, we are quite positive that things will work out given the mock tests and question paper format being uploaded on the Balbharti website for students to download and practice on their own and at the school level. It is not yet decided but this will surely only benefit the students.”

Several parents however are against the idea of scrapping the orals, given the junior college admissions that will follow after the SSC examinations.

Meanwhile, teachers claim that students are not getting pressurised by the 100 marks’ paper as the mock tests, preliminary examinations and question paper dummy are helping them practice before the final exams commence.