Five subjects only & SSC battle won in Gujarat

Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) on Saturday took some major decisions, which will prove to be stress busters for lakhs of students. These include examination in five subjects in SSC exam, instead of seven at present, and no toppers' list, as also semester system in science stream of Class 11 and 12.

With this, Gujarat has become the second state in the country, after Haryana, to introduce semester system in the science stream of Class 11 and 12. Announcing the decisions, Ramanlal Vora, education minister, said that the students appearing in SSC examination will have to appear in five subjects only from next year. The five subjects will include two compulsory languages — English and Gujarati — and mathematics, science and social studies. Besides, the practice of announcing state-level and district-level toppers of SSC and HSC examinations will be discontinued.

Elaborating the decisions, Hasmukh Adhia, chairman of GSHSEB and principal secretary of education department, Gujarat government, said that these decisions have been taken for the betterment of students.

He said semester system would be introduced in Class 11 and 12, science stream, from June 2011. So, students will need to study seriously in both the classes. So far, students had to appear in examination only in Class 12. Hence, they used to take it easy in Class 11. "However, the burden of students will be eased as they will have to study their course in four semesters," said Adhia.

He added that examinations of 1st and 3rd semesters would be of objective type, while that of 2nd and 4th semesters will be of subjective type. Final result of students would be declared only after the completion of 4th semester, which will take into account the results of all four semesters.

"This will benefit students as if they fail to perform well in one semester, they can make up for it in other semesters," added Adhia. Moreover, the syllabi of Class 11 and 12 science will undergo a change in the semester system. If the system works well, then it will be extended to commerce stream as well.

Speaking about the decision of discontinuing announcement of toppers list, Adhia said, "Instead of the list, grading and percentile system will be introduced in SSC and HSC exams. By percentile system, the student will come to know of his place among the lakhs of students. However, students will not be given any grace marks, as pass marks will be lowered to 33 from 35."   

Moreover, the word "fail" will not appear in students' marksheets. Instead, students will be given E1 or E2 grades or 'Improvement needed' will be entered in the certificates. If students securing these grades want to get admission in class 11, they will have to reappear in class 10 examination.

Regarding the decision to have five subjects in SSC, Adhia clarified, "Though SSC students will appear in seven subjects, examinations of five main subjects will be taken by the board and of the rest two, by the school."

Question papers will be half objective. Further, the board result will have a total of 500 marks only.  In the GSHSEB meet, the proposal of including those teachers, whose children and relatives were appearing in any board examination, for supervision and evaluation, was accepted.

The government is also considering to have a single body for conducting the examinations of class 9 to 12. However, to implement any decision to this effect, the GSHSEB Act will need to be amended through a bill passed by the state assembly.