Goa CM confirms that sports merit marks will be added to the aggregate score

Updated on: Saturday, March 16, 2013

Chief minister Manohar Parrikar has allayed fears of the student community by confirming that sports merit marks will be added to the aggregate score.

For the last two years, thousands of students felt cheated after the state government decided to maintain status quo. It meant sports merit marks remained decorative in essence as the marks were to be added to only those subjects in which the students have failed, either theory or practicals, or both, thus enabling them to pass and qualify for the next higher class.

In case of students who pass and qualify for the next higher class, the allotted sports merit marks were shown separately in the marksheet.

All that has changed now as the chief minister-who is also the education minister-has approved the recommendation of the Sports Policy Review Committee and decided to add the sports merit marks to the aggregate score.

Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs (DSYA) director VM Prabhudesai said, "An order to this effect has already been issued and sent to all schools. The chairman of the Goa Board has also agreed."

"The sports marks will be shown separately as sports marks and will be part of the total, provided the total does not exceed the maximum allotted marks of the subject," states the order.

Parrikar has also approved four new disciplines to be added to the sports merit mark list-squash, fencing, gymnastics and rope skipping-made possible by the association's president who happens to be the sports minister Ramesh Tawadkar himself. The three disciplines will join 40 other sports disciplines that will help students garner merit marks by mere participation.

"A major change in policy is that the maximum concession that will be given is 10%. For example, if the minimum passing marks is 35, the student will have to compulsorily score 25," said Prabhudesai, who as the executive director of Sports Authority of Goa, had drafted the Goa Sports Policy 2009.

In the first year of implementation of the sports policy, 113 students in Class X and 109 in Class XII Goa Board exams respectively benefited. The next year, the beneficiaries were overwhelming as 458 Class X and 344 Class XII students benefited.

Meanwhile, there is no word yet on implementing the remainder of the policy, at least in part.

Nobody can tell for sure when-if at all-the state government will make physical education and sports an optional academic subject, like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Maharashtra and Orissa. There is also no word on sports reservation of 3% seats at all educational institutions in the state, excluding professional colleges, or maintaining a healthy ratio of physical education teachers and students in schools.

Job reservations for sportspersons-as envisaged in the policy-also continues to be light years away.

Goa CM confirms that sports merit marks will be added to the aggregate score

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