SSC results: Class of Covid-19 breaks all records

Vighnesh Santoshkumar tries to access the Board site for his result

The much-anticipated Secondary School Certificate (SSC) results, without the exam, was declared on Friday by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education. But as of Friday evening, it was inaccessible to lakhs of students as the website of the Board crashed. The school education minister has initiated an inquiry in the matter. However, the results have created a number of records.

As the marks are inflated, be it passing percentage, number of cent per cent scorers, those with 90 per cent and above, almost everything is the highest this year.

However, after the result was officially declared by the Maharashtra State Board in Pune, it was to be accessible for students from 1 pm on Friday, but the website remained unavailable till 8 pm. Initially, people assumed that it could be because of the heavy traffic, but soon the delay made everyone suspicious, as it had never been the issue during board results.

Suyash Mali, one of many students from Mumbai who tried to check their results on the website, was left very disappointed when he could not access it even till late on Friday

Lakhs of students, their parents, schools - all were excited to check their first ever non-exam results, but very few were able to access it.

Students, parents upset

"Initially the website was not opening. Finally, when it opened, it kept crashing after I entered my details," said Vighnesh Santhoshkumar, a student.

"While the website remained inaccessible for most students, especially in Mumbai, in rural parts; some students were able to access. Later in the evening few from Mumbai too were able to access it," said Dineshkumar Gupta, a teacher who is popular on YouTube for his tutorials

"There is no change in the number of students when compared with previous years. What happened this year?" questioned Rupesh Jha, a parent from Kandivli.

Another parent, Umesh Nair, said, "The result was a compilation of marks in the final exam of Std IX and the marks of internal evaluation during Std X in formats such as project, assignments, practicals and vivas, etc. It was uploaded by schools on the website given by the state board. And yet the sole responsibility of the board - to make it accessible for students - was not carried out properly."

Vasant Kalpande, former chairperson of the Maharashtra State Board

Teachers and school principals had no answers to queries by students and parents. "This feels like the year of waiting. Initially we waited for school to start. Then after online school began, we waited for the exam to take place. Then the exam was cancelled and we waited to know how they would declare the result. After they declared the format, we waited for the result. Now they have declared the result and we are waiting to get our marks," said Chaitanya Gade, a frustrated student.

"Thanks to the lack of preparation by the Maharashtra State Board, over 15 lakh students and their parents are undergoing tremendous mental pressure. This result was declared in an unconventional way as the exam had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. And now keeping everyone waiting without any clarity on what the issue is, is really wrong," said Anil Bornare, president of the BJP Teachers' Cell.

Chairman of the Maharashtra State Board, Dinkar Patil, was unavailable for comment. School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad said she has initiated an inquiry into the website crash. "We apologise for the inconvenience caused by the SSC result link being inaccessible due to a technical issue. I have ordered a full inquiry into the incident. Strict action will be taken against all those responsible to ensure that such incidents don't recur," she tweeted.

Records broken again

The SSC result has broken many records. Be it passing percentage, number of cent percent scorers, those with 90 per cent and above, and even schools with 100 per cent result - almost everything is the highest this year as the marks have been inflated. Maharashtra has recorded passing percentage of 99.95 this year which is a steep rise from last year's 95.30 per cent, which was the highest in past 10 years.

Basanti Roy, former secretary, Mumbai division, Maharashtra State board

A total of 15,75,806 students had registered for the SSC this year, out of which marks were obtained for 15,75,752 students, of which 15,74,994 have passed the examination. Only 758 students have failed. This year, there are a total of 957 students across Maharashtra who have scored cent per cent; out of these, 32 are from Mumbai division which ranks only seventh in the list of nine divisions. Latur division has the highest - a total of 278 students scoring 100 per cent. This was closely followed by Aurangabad and Amravati with 261 and 105 cent per cent scorers respectively.

Only in Mumbai division, out of total 3,47,683 candidates; marks were obtained for 3,47,667 and 3,47,537 have passed recording passing percentage of 99.96 per cent; which was 96.72 per cent last year. Students of 22,767 schools in the state gave the exam and 22,384 schools had 100 per cent result.

Debate on reliability of result

The inflated marks are hardly a reason to worry this year as Std XI admissions are to be determined by the Common Entrance Test (CET). According to educationists, the SSC result isn't unreliable, but calls for the need to make changes in the board exam evaluation pattern for the years to come, as the pandemic condition is here to stay for some time.

Talking about the result, Basanti Roy, former secretary of the Mumbai division of Maharashtra State board said, "This evaluation process was a compromise due to the pandemic. Majority of it depended on the marks submitted by schools. And this is why the need for CET becomes even more prominent as this cannot be a completely reliable result. But another lesson to learn from here is to develop an alternative process of evaluation that can be transparent and ongoing throughout the year, so that such a situation can be avoided in future."

Contradicting over the reliability factor, however, Vasant Kalpande, former chairperson of the Maharashtra State Board, said, "The marks are inflated this year; but this cannot be an unreliable result. The result is as it was expected to be and most importantly, it relieves students of stress. Now those vying for specific colleges for Std XI will only have to worry about the CET." However, Kalpande also reiterated the need to bring about a shift in evaluation patterns now.

99.96
Passing percentage of Mumbai division

15,74,994
No. of students who have passed in the state