At least two schools in the city plan to write to the ICSE council that their students’ scores in English is less than expected in both ICSE and ISC exams.

None of the schools has sent any letter but the schools will point out the disparity in marks between the language and the literature papers in ICSE.

A couple of others are contemplating to write to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations about the “inconsistent marks”.

Students across campuses are applying for a recheck of the English papers, several teachers and heads of schools said.

A number of schools said that English scores had brought down a student’s overall percentage.

Some of the high rankers have scored in the high 90s in other subjects or even a 100 but English has been in the early 90s or 80s that has pulled down the aggregate, a teacher said.

In ICSE, in some cases, the difference of marks between two papers is 15-20.

After tabulating the data, schools have seen that the number of students scoring in the 90s in English is less than previous years.

The Heritage School, Sri Sri Academy, Calcutta Boys’, Frank Anthony Public School, Don Bosco Park Circus and Our Lady Queen of the Missions School said their students have over the years fared much better in English.

Only 7.31 per cent students have scored above 90 in the country in case of ICSE English. In ISC English, 10.84 per cent of students have scored above 90.

But school heads said the practice of writing had gone down and that too affected the scores in language papers.

“The language scores in ICSE are low and students are disappointed.... In literature, the questions are direct and in the language paper the writing skills are tested. Students are unable to score high marks because of their reading and writing practice have gone down,” Sujoy Biswas, principal of Rammohan Mission, said.

For language there has to be more practice and students need to devote time to construct a sentence or a paragraph unlike literature, which is easy to learn and reproduce, Terence Ireland principal of St James’ School said.

“We have a history of doing exceptionally well in English. This low scoring is not a true representation of the capabilities of our students,” Sister Sherly Sebastian, principal, Our Lady Queen of the Missions school, Salt Lake, said. “Also, the difference in marks of the two papers of English, in ICSE, is a lot. This has resulted in low average marks in English.”

Sister Rani, the principal of Our Lady Queen of the Missions School Park Circus said that compared to last year the English marks in ICSE were low.

“More than 50 per cent students or at times even 60 to 70 per cent students score above 90 in English. Students are disappointed with the marks and many of them will apply for a recheck,” Raja McGee, principal of Calcutta Boys’ School, said.

At Heritage, too, the percentage is low. “This time, only about 13 per cent students have scored above 90 in ISC, which is usually 30 per cent or more,” Anil Jha, senior academic coordinator, said.

Rechecking the paper does not mean a reevaluation. It means if there is any error in the totalling of marks or if any answer has not been evaluated or marked, it will be done.

The council has made a provision for candidates to apply for a recheck through the website, www.cisce.org. Students can submit online requests for a recheck till July 16.

“Parents consulted us… they want to send the English papers for a recheck… the language marks have been disappointing in ICSE,” Sonali Sen, principal of DPS New Town, said.

Suvina Shunglu, principal of Sri Sri Academy, said there was a significant gap between the literature and language marks in ICSE.