In a major decision, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), 31 education boards, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations and National Institute of Open School have decided to scrap the moderation policy under which grace marks are given to students in exams for difficult questions.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting of the Ministry of HRD in New Delhi on Monday.
Education secretaries of various states and chairpersons of different boards were present in Monday's meeting chaired by Anil Swarup, secretary in the Ministry.
"A consensus has been reached that education boards will no longer inflate marks. More realistic scores will be given this year to Class XII students," a member present at the meeting said.
The move comes after the CBSE had in December last year requested the HRD Ministry to help develop a consensus among all state boards on completely removing the marks moderation policy which is considered as the reason behind inflated scores in board exam results.
The latest decision will bring down the marks in Class XII Board exams, and soaring cut-offs during undergraduate admissions.
The HRD Ministry had on April 12 decided to consult states on scrapping the practice of awarding grace marks.
Under the moderation policy, examinees are awarded up to 15 per cent extra marks in certain papers if the questions are deemed to be difficult. However, the practice of awarding grace marks will continue to ensure that a student clears an exam if he or she needs a few marks to do so.
