JOIN USDelhi High Court’s direction to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to continue with its ill-conceived moderation of marks this year has created a chaotic situation. It will not only delay declaration of results of around a million students in the CBSE-affiliated schools all over the country, but also have a cascading effect on schools run by other state boards which had agreed to abolish the practice from this year. They will now have to wait for the CBSE to make a call. Education boards in Rajasthan, Karnataka and Punjab have already announced results without spiking marks in the name of “moderation.” This has confounded the problem. After the Delhi High Court order, the Sword of Damocles hangs over the head of students who have passed out from these schools.
There are as many as 18,500 schools affiliated to the CBSE. The Board has so far been silent on whether it will challenge the high court decision or follow it while there are indications that it would move the Supreme Court. But then this may also further delay the announcement of results. Indefinite delay will hit the admission calendar of colleges and universities and impact hard on the candidates seeking admission in professional courses. That Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar has promised that results would be announced “on time” should come as a relief to students and parents. The CBSE had introduced the policy of moderation of marks in 1992. The logic put forward to justify this absurd move was that some state school boards were already inflating marks and mark moderation will create a level playing field. The consequences were exactly the opposite. Under moderation done by the CBSE, marks of a student getting 80%-85% could rise to 95%. However, a candidate who scored 95% or more would not get extra marks. Such inflated scores invariably lead to abnormally high cut-offs — sometimes touching 100% for subjects such as mathematics and history — for college admissions.
Under flak, the CBSE this year decided to do away with this unfair practice, but wanted other state boards to do the same. It was in this backdrop that the CBSE and 32 state schools boards agreed last month to abolish the nefarious practice. The decision was widely hailed by educationists across ideological and regional spectrum. The Delhi High Court’s order to CBSE to continue the moderation policy is, therefore, not only unwise but also against the interests of the students. The CBSE and state school boards which had agreed to abolish the practice should now challenge the order without delay.