Private weakness is now public concern

The fact that an increasing number of students opt to do their SSC exams privately and then most do not manage to pass, has alarmed the authorities. The State School Education department has decided to take strict action to ensure that private schools offer better facilities to students. This, the authorities believe, will help reduce the number of failures.

This year, 73,000 students appeared for the SSC exams privately, compared to last year’s 68,539. Only  28 per cent of these students managed to pass this year. Last year, the pass percentage was 31 per cent.

These are students who have done most of their schooling in the BMC system and changed to a private school for  Std VIII. The private schools admit these students because the higher the number of students and number of divisions of Std VIII, the better the government grant they are able to get. This helps pay for surplus teachers.

But many students who may be weak are given a raw deal and detained after Std IX; the number of divisions for Std IX are then brought down as the schools want 100 per cent SSC results.

Sumit Malik, secretary of the state school education department said, “This situation will not be tolerated anymore. Such erring institutes will be dealt with strictly.”