Mumbai: School principals concerned for SSC students’ academic performance

School principals across the city are concerned about whether SSC students’ academic performance in the board exams will be poor if not better, following the change in syllabus and the scrapping of the 20-marks internal exams. The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) introduced a new syllabus this year and also declared a new paper pattern for 100 marks instead of scrapping exams of 20 marks.

Some school principals said the students have already performed poorly in the recent semester exams than in the previous year. A principal from a western suburb school said, “This semester exam class 10 students, who will be appearing for the SSC board exam have performed worst then students before them. It is may be due to the new paper pattern and most of the exams are 100 marks. Their poor performance is seen mostly in the language papers that don’t have an internal 20 marks exam. Our principal’s association have approached the board and we have heard that they may think of something for students. How the students will perform in board exam we will come to know after they give their prelim exam.”

Another principal, and secretary of Mumbai Principals Association, Prashant Redij said, “Maybe due to the new syllabus, students can’t refer to previous papers. So they have performed badly this semester exam. Also, because some of the exams are now for 100 marks, students will need to write more as internal marks exams are scrapped. We are worried about how well students perform in the board exams. The board says that when students were given internal marks, they were scoring poorly in theory exams. In order to improve their writing skills 100 marks exams are introduced.”