Govt plays it safe on best-of-five option for SSC

The state government will be implementing the ‘best of five’ plan for junior college admissions for students appearing for the March 2010 senior secondary certificate (SSC) exams. But before giving the plan a final go ahead, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has been given a week’s time to get people’s opinion on the decision.

The state government wants to be cautious as they have twice previously their plans to alter the admission procedure have backfired. In 2008, the state education department proposed the percentile system to normalise scores of all students, from state and central boards, for admissions into junior colleges. However, Xavier Luis, a student of an ICSE school filed a petition in the high court stating the change would give SSC students an advantage. The court then quashed the government’s policy.

The second time, again in 2008, the state government floated the 90:10 quota, which reserved 90% of seats for students from the state board, leaving only 10% seats for other boards, including CBSE and ICSE. This was again challenged in the court and the government had to backtrack on its decision.

Thus, now the government wants to take opinions of different stakeholders — students, parents, teachers’ organisation and other education forums — before they take the final decision. “We have played our role, now it is for the students and parents to decide, if the decision is right,” said Balasaheb Thorat, school education minister.

Perin Bagli, principal of Activity High School, and also the secretary of ICSE schools association in Mumbai, said: “We have been proposing the best of five option since a long time. The scheme will benefit students from all boards and they will be on par with each other while seeking admissions.”

The Maha Palak Sanghatna, which was formed this year to address admission-related woes, had also suggested the best of five option early this year. Laxmikant Vaidya, a member said: “We had taken opinions from several parents asking them for the best solution. They had all agreed on the best of five option.”