The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Grading system for SSC exam mooted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 13, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Grading system for SSC exam mooted

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JAN. 12. The State Government today decided to introduce grading system for Class X students to decide their pass/ failure in the final examination from next academic year. This will be in place of present ranking system which is causing "unwanted situations" in educational institutions.

It is also contemplating reduction in the number of examination papers for Class X to six from 11 considering the fact that the papers even for college students are less.

Announcing this at a press conference here, the School Education Minister, N. Rajyalakshami, said a committee would shortly be formed to work out modalities to implement the decision.

The Minister said that plans were afoot to introduce "optional subjects" from Class VI or VIII so that students could specialise in subjects of their choice and would be thorough in them when they reached the degree level. She said this issue was only at a consultation stage and no decision had been taken.

Adopting schools

Ms. Rajyalakshmi also said that English medium sections would be opened in schools "without prejudice to the mother tongue, Telugu. Similarly, English medium B.Ed colleges would be set up as this would enable candidates to get jobs outside the State also.

Another decision was inviting philanthropists and NRIs to adopt schools which would be named after persons of their choice if they donated Rs. 10 lakhs for a high school, Rs. 7.5 lakhs for an upper primary school and Rs. 5 lakhs for a primary school.

The donors would be made permanent invitees of the school committees concerned. She later inaugurated a website, Vidyanidhi, which would give information about the schools and the names of the donors.

The Minister gave a commitment to issue appointment orders to the 17,000 candidates selected under DSC-2003 by this month-end. A committee had been formed with writers, publishers, library movement leaders and educationists to formulate a "State book policy" deciding the content of the books to be supplied to libraries and schools. It was resolved to provide reference sections in libraries with Rs. 5 lakhs in each district, with xerox machine, internet and printing & binding facility.

Literacy rate

The Minister said it was programmed to cover all children with five-year primary education and eight-year elementary education under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan by 2007.

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