By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Students and teachers under the Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBoSE) are in a predicament about the Board’s, “Best 3 out of 4” pattern applicable in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination.
Students, teachers and parents feel that this pattern has done more harm than good to the student community. In a bid to help weaker students the Board adopted this skewed marking pattern. In this pattern, a student can opt for “Best 3 out of 4” subjects apart from English and MIL, which are compulsory.
A teacher of St Mary’s School said that MBOSE had sought feedback from every school about the new pattern and all schools have sent their feedback. “But MBOSE has not yet come up with any notification about which system should prevail,” he informed.
The teacher alleged that in the face of the ambivalence adopted by the Board, students appearing in the SSLC examination are spending sleepless nights. “The SSLC examination is starting from the beginning of March whereas MBOSE is yet to come up with a final decision on this all important issue,” he said. The teacher said that normally a student will “opt out” of a subject that he/she does not like since even if a student fails in that subject he/she will be declared passed.
Another teacher said that the new system demoralizes good students. “In the new system a student can opt for the best 3 out of 4 subjects. This means that the total will be calculated on 5 subjects instead of 6,” he said adding this will demoralize the students and said that the total should be on 6 subjects. “Everywhere else the Boards are asking students to work hard but here it seems the MBOSE is discouraging students from doing so,” he lashed out.
Meanwhile, students are the most affected lot. A student said that the indecision of the Board is will affect her performance in the SSLC exam. “We the student community are living in an uncertainty. It is useless to study all the four subjects in the “Best 3 out of 4″ pattern since the percentage calculation will be on 3 and not 4,” she said. Many students echo the same strain. “Let the board come up with 5 subjects instead of 6. Now even if I do well in the fourth subject nothing gets counted,” a student said adding that this is the sorry side of this ridiculous rule.
Meanwhile, EP Kharbhih, Executive Chairman, MBOSE said that the system will remain the same as last year. “The students have to appear in all the six subjects whereas the percentage will be calculated on the basis of 5 subjects,” he said. When asked about the feedback sent by schools to MBOSE on “Best 3 out of 4” the executive chairman said he is not aware about the feedback from schools.