State mulls change in SSC pass rules

The education department will consider the suggestion that SSC students be allowed to clear five subjects, not six, in the Best Five scheme.

The education department will consider the suggestion that SSC students be allowed to clear five subjects, not six, in the Best Five scheme.

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Under the Best Five scheme, SSC candidates need to clear all six subjects but scores of five subjects in which they have scored the highest would be used to calculate their average score. CBSE and ICSE students have to pass in five subjects.

State Assembly Speaker Dilip Walse-Patil asked Education Minister Balasaheb Thorat to reconsider the scheme after opposition legislators raised doubts about it. Thorat said he would consider the change that Walse-Patil suggested but ruled out any rethink or alternative to the Best Five scheme.

Shiv Sena legislator Subhash Desai said the high court could reject the Best Five scheme like it did with the 90:10 quota the education department had suggested. “Every time the department works out a plan to give equal opportunities to SSC students, it fails. There should be a back-up plan,” he said.