The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 has led to a massive disruption in the educational scenario of the country. After significant waiting and reviewing of situations, the Class 10 board exam has been cancelled by most state education boards while it has been decided to mass promote students.
Gujarat is among such states to have mass promoted Class 10 students without conducting exams. Although an extremely necessary step in safeguarding the health and well-being of thousands of students, the question of the hour is whether such mass promotion will bear a permanent black spot in every Class 10 students’ report card in Gujarat.
The Gujarat state government has decided to cancel the Class 10 finals this year. However, as per latest directives issued by the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB), the school leaving certificates of students who are being mass promoted will clearly indicate “passed by mass promotion”. Whether such a remark on the school leaving certificate will prove to be detrimental in the future academic career of these students is being explored now.
The aforementioned remark will be indicated in the remarks column of the school leaving certificate of the candidate as per latest directives issued by the Board to all principals. This year, due to mass promotion, Principals will be required to upload results online. The evaluation will reportedly be done on the basis of merit in internal tests.
As per the latest guidelines, candidates who fail to achieve at least 26 marks in each subject out of 80 marks and 07 marks out of 20 will be mass promoted this year. Gujarat School Principal’s Association has reportedly opposed the decision and has requested the Board to reconsider the decision. No clarifications have been received from the government in regard to such situations.
In the words of GSPA’s President Jaiprakash Patel, the Class 10 certificate is extremely important and candidates have to furnish it every where whether it is for admission to Diploma courses after Class 10 or while applying for a job. The President said that after 10-15 years, nobody will readily remember why mass promotions were conducted and it may impact the professional career of a student. The decision of indicating “passed through mass promotion” has been requested for review.
As of now, there is no certainty as to whether higher educational institutes will frown upon the decision to mass promote candidates without holding exams. However, all schools are required to issue school leaving certificates to students of Class 10 irrespective of whether they continue pursuing senior secondary in the same school or elsewhere.
