The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to do away with its moderation policy in a high-level meeting held on 25 April. Under the policy, grace marks were offered to students falling short by 4-5 marks. This decision comes after CBSE had asked the human resource development ministry last year to develop consent among all boards to remove grace marks to counter inflated board marks.
However, the grace marks will still be awarded but with a mention on the student’s mark sheet. The moderation policy grants 15 per cent extra marks for students in certain difficult papers for students to go through in the results.
The cut-off list for the colleges is expected to go down if all state boards agree to implement the policy. The policy was much needed since the cut-off for top colleges in India goes very high, sometimes up to 100 per cent in certain Delhi University (DU) colleges.
Scrapping grace marks will be fair to those students who secure marks through their hard work. Also, it will bring parity in the marks scored by different state board students. Students from different states apply for admissions in DU. There is quite some difference in the marks of CBSE, ISC and UP board students. An equal criterion of awarding marks comes as a hope to students across the country expecting to land up in DU.
“CBSE has decided against any spike in marks at all. This will be implemented for this year’s board exam itself. It will award grace marks which will also be reflected in the mark sheet and the website will also clearly mention the mechanism used to give grace marks and to what extent,” a senior official told PTI.
