Rise in pass percentage of Class 9, 11 students in Delhi govt schools

The students of these classes were promoted on the basis of their performances in mid-term exams and internal assessments since their final exams could not be held in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Directorate of Education (DoE) on Tuesday announced the results of students enrolled in classes 9 and 11 in its schools, recording a spike in overall pass percentage in both the classes from last year. While the pass percentage in Class 9 increased by 15 percentage points, Class 11 pass percentage saw a marginal spike of under one percentage point, in comparison to last year.

After cancellation of their exams, students in classes 9 and 11 were promoted. (HT File Photo)

The students of these classes were promoted on the basis of their performances in mid-term exams and internal assessments since their final exams could not be held in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. The mid-term exams for these classes were underway when the second wave of the pandemic hit the country in April.

Delhi government schools usually follow a strict assessment process in classes 9 and 11. For instance, according to a 2019 Praja Foundation report, around 55% of Class 9 students in the 2016-17 academic year did not pass their annual exams.

With the pass percentage in classes 9 and 11 rising due to the alternative assessment policy adopted since last year in view of the pandemic, principals of several government schools have also expressed concern over how their students will perform in the CBSE board exams for classes 10 and 12 next year.

“The increase in passing percentage might affect the Class 10 and 12 board exam results of government schools next year. We just hope CBSE comes up with an alternative evaluation criteria for board classes for next year as well,” said a principal of a government school in Rohini.

According to a statement issued by the Delhi government on Tuesday, mid-term exams of Social Studies, Sanskrit, and the third language for Class 9 students, and exams for Geography and Business Studies for class 11 students, could not be conducted in 2020-21. “The average marks of the students’ two best performing subjects, out of the five main ones, have been given in subjects where the exams could not be conducted or the student was absent for some reason,” the statement read.

Going by the government data, of the 2.58 lakh students enrolled in Class 9 across 1,030 government schools in the 2020-21 academic session, 2.45 lakh appeared for their mid-term exams. “The final results of students were collated based on the mid-term and internal assessments. Based on this evaluation criteria, 1.97 lakh students (80.3%) in Class 9 passed in Delhi,” the statement added. Last year, the overall pass percentage in Class 9 in Delhi government schools was around 65%.

While around 1.7 lakh students were enrolled in Class 11 for the academic session 2020-21, only 1.69 lakh students appeared for the mid-terms, out which 1.65 lakh students passed. Last year, the pass percentage of Class 11 was 96%, which increased to 99.25% after the compartment exams.

According to the government data, during the mid-term exams held in April, as many as 12,500 Class 9 students and 3,500 class 11 students did not appear. “All those students who have not appeared for any exams will be eligible for re-assessment. The re-assessment will be based on class-based assignments, project work, and other assessments. Guidelines regarding re-assessment will be released soon by the Directorate of Education,” the statement added.

The results were declared on DoE’s official website and schools also sent results to students via SMS and WhatsApp messages.