Delhi school body expresses concern over revised promotion policy for Classes IX, XI

The National Progressive Schools' Conference (NPSC), a body of over 120 private schools in Delhi, has written to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) raising concerns over the Directorate of Education's (DOE) revised promotion policy for students in Classes IX and XI.

According to the revised policy issued by the DoE, promotions will be based on marks obtained in the Term-I (mid-term) and Term-II (annual) tests, in addition to marks received in internal assessment, project, practical or all taken together. The revised policy is an extension of the 2020-21 promotion policy.

"As per the revised promotion policy, a maximum of 15 grace marks can be awarded to a student to reach the required 33% marks in one or any number of subjects. So, if a child secures 18/100 in his aggregate (including theory and practical internal assessment), giving 15 grace marks will make him eligible to be promoted to the next grade," NPSC chairperson Sudha Acharya said in the letter to her CBSE counterpart.

"Also, as per the revised rules, a child failing to secure 33% marks is eligible to appear in the compartment examination for all the subjects in which he/she has failed to secure 33%,” the letter further read.

"The cause of concern is that awarding compartment examination in all the subjects will amount to re-examination. It will also not gauge how much knowledge the child has actually attained and will further widen the learning gap that has already been created during two long years of the pandemic," Acharya added.

Acharya further said that the provision for such a low target for promotion under the revised policy will be highly demotivating for both teachers and students.

"Teachers will lack the inspiration to set milestones for students and students will hardly appreciate the true worth or value of education in such a relaxed system," she said.