The decision of the state to follow the CBSE in implementing the grading system in SSC from 2010 has left the parents, students and academicians worried. How does it change the situation? In place of marks, now you have grades like A1, A2 and so on. So even now, everyone knows how they fared in the exam."

J. Anand Malhotra parent

Is the grading system in SSC exams introduced by the state government flawed? Are officials in the education department blindly following the CBSE grading pattern without noticing that the syllabus and the evaluation pattern of the two examination boards are entirely different? Will the new system serve any purpose in the present format? What prompted the government to take such a major decision hurriedly, without any debate or consultations with stakeholders?

These are questions that academicians, teachers, students and parents are asking ever since the government order was issued on Friday, which says that state will follow the CBSE pattern of allotting grades to SSC students from 2010.

But neither the government nor the officials are in a position to clarify things for students and parents. Surprisingly, the government itself is not clear on how to take the new system forward. There is utter confusion in the department of secondary education over the issue. The minister for secondary education, Mr D. Manikya Vara Prasada Rao, was totally unaware of the grading system till the media sought his reaction.

The officials too were confused on the whole issue.

Except for clarifying that they will adopt the CBSE grading method for the SSC exams, there was hardly anything they could say that would remove apprehensions among lakhs of students and parents. More than 13 lakh students appear for the SSC public exams every year.

The state officials were even ignorant about the grading system adopted by the CBSE! Adding to the confusion is the fact that the government is not clear about what it is trying to achieve with this change. While on the one hand the government claims that the grading was introduced to de-stress students as the announcement of marks was leading to unhealthy competition among students and private schools every year, on the other hand it is making the marks known immediately after the release of results through the IVRS system.

"How can one explain this anomaly? If there is a facility to know the marks immediately after the grades are revealed, what is the point of awarding the grades?

Even in the present format, the SSC Board was announcing only divisions like first class, second class, third class without disclosing the marks. However, the students and the schools had the option of knowing the marks through IVRS," asked Ms Sunitha Rao, principal, Oxford Public School.

Mr M. Veerabhadraiah, a senior teacher at the Government High School, Nallakunta, says that in the CBSE system, grades will be awarded in place of marks in Class X from this year.

"However, the grades will be awarded after a continuous and comprehensive evaluation over the complete academic year. But here [for the SSC], the syllabus, teaching methods, exam pattern, valuation of papers will remain the same but the results would be in form of grades. The grades will be based on the total marks secured in the exams..

Will that make any difference as the grades too represent the total marks?" Parents wonder how the new system will reduce stress when the syllabus remains the same.

"How does it change the situation? In place of marks, now you have grades like A1, A2 and so on. So even now, everyone knows how they fared in the exam. Lastly, how can we reduce the stress of competitive exams after Class XII?" questioned Mr J. Anand Malhotra, a parent.