The confusion that had arisen last year over which students should be considered for the board prizes has now been cleared by the Maharashtra State Education.
The confusion that had arisen last year over which students should be considered for the board prizes has now been cleared by the Maharashtra State Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education.
The board has said sports achievement would not be considered for the prizes meant for students scoring the highest marks.
Last year, the board had declared that any student playing state, national, or international level sports in that academic year would be given 25 marks as sports’ achievement. However, there was no mention of whether these will be considered for the prizes.
Two SSC students and one HSC-Commerce student had claimed to be the toppers as their scores were higher than the ones declared highest by the board. Aditi Shah from HR College, Churchgate, who had been given 25 marks extra for sports achievement, scored 93.16% and the commerce topper had scored 92.17%. A national level athlete, Shah was disappointed to find out that she was not considered for the topper’s position.
Shah said, “The general perception is that a person good at sports cannot be good at academics. If someone is able to prove otherwise by putting in similar efforts in both the fields, they should be commended.”
Shah had spoken to the authorities about the issue; however, the board told her that the prize money was only for achievement in academics.
MP Sharma, principal of GD Somani School, Cuffe Parade, said, “It is not fair for the students who dedicate their time in extracurricular activities. If these marks are included in their total, then why not consider them for the board prizes? If the state board wants to be on par with the ICSE and CBSE boards, then such encouragement should be given to students.”
Indu Shahani, principal of HR College, however, said including marks for sports achievement for the prizes would not be fair for a student who scored high marks in academics.
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