Srinagar, Dec 10: The government schools in Kashmir are resorting to unethical practices by barring a significant number of students from appearing as regular candidates in the upcoming annual class 10th and 12th examinations to be conducted by the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) scheduled for March 2024.
The government schools find this shortcut to improve the results of their students and they filter out a record number of students, mostly from poor and middle-class families, allowing only those students to appear in the annual examination who they perceive have more chances of passing it.
An official said that the practice of detaining students continues despite the department’s directions to the school heads not to detain the students from appearing in the annual exams conducted by JKBOSE.
“The schools have been given strict instructions to address the gaps through remedial classes and allow all the students to appear in the annual board examination,” the official said.
Earlier last month, the Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) announced the winter vacation for schools with instructions to all the teachers to remain available “on demand” for any online guidance of students during the vacation period.
However, the teachers who are hand-in-glove with the heads of the schools, prefer to detain the students instead of guiding them to prepare for the annual board examination.
“In some schools, students are barred from appearing in annual exams just because their performance in the class is weak. School heads have conveyed to them that their forms will not be submitted to JKBOSE,” said a school teacher from Srinagar.
Complaints have started pouring in against schools as the JKBOSE issued notification for submission of examination forms for annual class 10th, 11th, and 12th examinations.
A JKBOSE official said that the process for submission of examination forms commenced on December 2, 2023, for class 11th while for class 12th students the process started on November 29, 2023.
However, the official acknowledged that the schools cannot bar the students from appearing in annual exams as regular students.
“We have set a bar that students must have 75 percent to be eligible to appear in annual exams as regular students. In certain cases, relaxation is given to students and students with 66 percent attendance are also allowed to appear as regular students,” the official said.
However, the official said that the schools do not disallow students because of a shortage in attendance but bar them under one or the other pretext, only to improve their results.
The practice of detaining students in classes 10th and 12th is in vogue in government schools to obtain a pleasing pass percentage in the results.
However, the practice has been banned by the department long back to have a clear picture of the performance of government schools in annual examinations.
“But some schools are detaining a good number of students from appearing as regular students in annual exams. The authorities are unaware about it,” another teacher said. (Greater Kashmir)
