Nagpur: Even after a record 99.84 passing percentage, Nagpur division languished at the bottom of the statewide SSC results ranking due to what board officials claim are “clerical errors”.SSC results, which were declared on Friday without even a single exam being held this summer due to the Covid-19 pandemic, saw 99.95% of registered students in the state pass.
And Nagpur division is almost certain to touch that level, if not breach it, once these errors are rectified.
Due to exams being cancelled because of the devastating Covid-19 second wave, SSC students were assessed based on internal assessments done in Std IX and X with 50% weightage to each class.
Hence, it was not really surprising that Maharashtra witnessed a massive surge in passing percentages.
Konkan recorded a 100% pass rate while every other division, except Nagpur, was near the 99.95% mark.
Neighbouring Amravati division clocked an astounding 99.98% pass rate and was placed second in the division-wise ranking in Maharashtra.
With almost the same number of students as Nagpur division, Amravati’s performance is quite notable.
In Nagpur division comprising six districts, there was just one student who did not “appear for exams”.
Technically, this means he/she was unavailable for assessment which could have been done online, offline or over the phone too.
Around 1.6 lakh fresh students registered in Nagpur division for SSC, of which only this one student was not assessed.
This single student has become an enigma, because it’s not known why he/she did not get in touch with the school.
Board officials say due to student confidentiality they cannot retrieve information regarding the same.
Though Nagpur division finds itself in an embarrassing position, board secretary Madhuri Savarkar told TOI that the situation is “temporary”.
“Our numbers got affected because results of just over a thousand students have been reserved, which does not mean failed.
We have noticed clerical errors made by schools while tabulating their marks, which is why we have put them in reserve category (SEE BOX).
We are rectifying these mistakes on a war-footing and it will be reflected in the official record within a week or two.”From today itself the staff has started punching in rectified details, she said.
“It shall be sent to our Pune HQ.
For the other students we have started collating data and will identify the specific errors and update those as well.
Once Pune office approves the changes, it shall reflect in the official records,” she said.The first batch of data that’s being rectified relates to students who were given ‘zero’ by their teachers, even though it should have been ‘absent’.
Savarkar said, “This time marks are being entered in database by schools itself and zero means failure.”But schools could have conducted exams online too, so the absent factor does not make immediate sense.
The only explanation could be that the student did not respond at all to the school’s call.Ashnarayan Tiwari, principal of Adarsh Vidya Mandir (Gandhibagh), said, “The onus was definitely on schools when it came to marks tabulation.
50% of weightage was to Std IX score while the rest we had to collate from internal assessments.
Even I am surprised why anyone would mark a student as absent, as the same online test or oral exam could have been conducted later.”Another principal, who did not wish to be identified, said that at the state-level too the board must enquire as to why students have failed.
“How can you fail in a year when exams are not being held.
Schools are marking on internal assignments and oral exams or a projects type of test.
It’s impossible to fail if the student has attempted internal assignments,” said the principal.Still Savarkar does not rule out the chances of a few students failing.
“It may happen but they all will be able to proceed to Std XI because in Maharashtra we have the ATKT rule.
So, even if a student has been unable to clear two subjects, s/he can continue to Std XI without any problem,” said Savarkar.InfoSTATE-WIDE result Divisional board……..Passing %Pune……………………………99.96Nagpur…………………………99.84Aurangabad………………….99.96Mumbai………………………..99.96Kolhapur………………………99.92Amravati………………………99.98Nashik…………………………99.96Latur……………………………99.96Konkan……………………….100.00Total…………………………….99.95++++++++++++ HIGHLIGHTS- Amravati division with 99.98% only behind Konkan which topped the chart with 100% results – Girls register 99.96% pass rate while boys 99.94% – 16,58,614 students registered from 22,767 schools – 22,384 schools scored 100% result- This year result increased by 4.65% as compared to March 2020========Ngp divn marking errorType of error ——- Students affectedMarked ‘0’ instead of absent —- 293Subject code error —————- 100Roll numbers mismatch——— 692