CBSE Scraps Moderation Policy

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) scrapped the moderation policy under which grace marks are given to students in exams for difficult questions.

The move comes after the CBSE, in December last year requested the Human Resource Development Ministry to help develop a consensus among all state boards on completely removing the marks moderation policy which is considered as the reason behind inflated scores in board exam results.The decision, taken at a high-level meeting, could result in lower cut-offs in university entrances.

Students are usually awarded up to 15% extra marks in some subjects to compensate for the tough questions asked during exams.The inflated scores, in turn, force colleges to set their cut-off marks at 100%. However, the practice of awarding grace marks will continue if a student needs a few marks to clear an examination. But these extra marks will be disclosed on the candidate's mark sheet.

Kerala has sought a year's time to scrap the policy. The central board explained that if all school boards do not adopt the new policy, students from those that do will be in a disadvantageous position during undergraduate admissions.

More on the report:

• 32 school boards have agreed to scrap the policy of "marks moderation" from this year.
• The practice of awarding grace marks will continue to ensure that a student clears an exam if he or she needs a few marks to do so.
• In an additional step, the government proposed that the school boards should score or grade a students' performance in extra-curricular activities separately from his/ her academic performance.
• In March, a report claimed that the number of students scoring 95 per cent and above in the Class 12 examination conducted by CBSE rose 23 times in six years- from 384 in 2008 to 8,971 in 2014.

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