WBCHSE president stresses on overhauling education system

Updated on: Thursday, June 07, 2012

President of West Bengal Council for Higher Secondary Education, Muktinath Chattopadhyay, after publishing the Higher Secondary examination results on Monday,lambasted the existing system which according to him is producing students of "lesser merit".

In his note Chattopadhyay stated: "We must admit that the whole standard of education has deteriorated to an alarming extent over the last couple of years. This degeneration is an unavoidable part of the total degradation in the society and erosion of values among the stakeholders." The note urged the Madhyamik board to take some positive steps to revamp the scenario for the sake of the next generation.

When asked which areas he felt needed focus, the council president said: "The Madhyamik board should consider increasing the qualifying marks from 25. This is just the qualifying marks and it allows students with lesser merits to find a seat in Class XI. If the quality of students is not improved, education will suffer in HS."

This year, majority of the HS students have scored between 40 and 49% receiving a C+ grade. Among 5,48,540 students who have passed, 1,33,075 received C+ while 1,12,241 received C (between 30 and 39%), 1,03,351 received B (between 50 and 59%), 67,332 scored B+ (between 60 and 69%), 39,002 received A (between 70 and 79%), 10,841 scored A+ (between 80 and 89%) and 472 scored AA (between 90 and 100%).

Chattopadhyay pointed out that there was no option for students scoring between 30% and 49% to study honours courses. "Colleges state clearly that the eligibility criterion for obtaining forms is to score minimum 50% in aggregate. There is not much scope for the rest but to study vocational or pass courses. There is not much future after enrolling in them. So the students need to achieve minimum 50% to secure their future," he said.

The solution, Chattopadhyay feels, is to alter the question, evaluation and teaching pattern to impart proper education. HS will indeed to be overhauled from 2013 as the new syllabus will be put in place. Even the evaluation system will see a sea change. "It is aimed at making a level playing field for students from our board. Once the system is in place, there will be definitely an improvement in quality of students. Moreover, we also plan to introduce percentile from 2015, when the first batch of students takes the examination in new syllabus," Chattopadhyay said.

WBCHSE president stresses on overhauling education system

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