The ISC council has asked schools affiliated to it why their assessment in pre-board tests differs from the council’s in the board exams, several principals who attended a meeting with council officials on Friday said.

Scores in pre-board exams are hardly an indicator of a student’s standard because many schools, especially reputable ones, are allegedly stingy in awarding marks in internal exams.

The difference in the standard of evaluation is prompting many students to decide to write the pending papers of ISC and ICSE exams, exposing themselves to the risk of contracting Covid-19 in the process, instead of agreeing to be assessed on the basis of their pre-board marks.

The council has given both choices to the ICSE and ISC examinees.

Friday’s meeting, where the schools were asked about their strict evaluation in pre-board exams, was addressed by Gerry Arathoon, the chief executive and secretary of the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations.

Several parents have told The Telegraph that their children want to write the pending papers in the hope that they would score more marks than they have scored in the pre-board exams.

Eight ISC and six ICSE papers are still pending because the exams had to be suspended in March to protect the children from being infected by the coronavirus at the test venues.

For decades it has been a tradition in many schools to set difficult questions and be strict in evaluation. The questions set in the board exams is a mix of tough and easy ones, which help all students to score better than in pre-board exams.

Several schools do it intentionally to make students work harder for the board exams.

The higher scores in the board exams do not just reflect the student’s performance but are also indicative of the standard a school maintain, which is not dependent on the council’s parameters alone.

“Sometimes the benchmark is much higher than the benchmark set by the council,” a teacher said.

“Parents send their children to a certain school because of the standard and quality it maintains and we cannot dilute that. Sometimes, the questions in the pre-boards require students to apply their minds and that help them in future,” said a principal.

The council also reminded principals that they should not try to influence the decision of the students on whether they will write the pending papers or be assessed by the marks in the internal exams.