The students awaiting their class 10 results in the state have some good news. The Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) has retained the 10 per cent grace marks this year too.
The Board had increased the grace marks from earlier 5 per cent to 10 per cent during the 2021 exams considering the difficulties faced by the students due to Covid-19 pandemic. However, considering the learning loss among kids in the last two years, and also requests from teachers, the Board has decided to continue with the 10 per cent grace marks for 2022 exams also.
According to the teachers, the grace marks will help the students who have scored above 25 and below 30 marks to sail through the exams. “Basically, the grace marks are allotted to rescue the candidates whose scores fall short of the minimum passing marks,” said H K Manjunath, president, Karnataka State Government Secondary Schools Assistant Masters Association.
As explained by the officials from the Board, this year, the 10 per cent grace marks will be allotted to any three subjects. Earlier 5 per cent marks were distributed to two subjects. “If a student needs three marks each for the three subjects to qualify in the SSLC exams, then the same can be allotted from the grace marks,” added an official.
It can be recalled that during the 2021 exams, 9 per cent of the total candidates who had appeared for exams passed with the help of grace marks and they all secured ‘C’ grade in the exams.
As per the estimation by the teachers involved in the evaluation process, this number is likely to increase this year as the students have appeared for the exams after a gap of two years. “Though the question paper was easy, we should also consider that the learning level of the children has gone down due to the academic gap during Covid-19 pandemic,” a teacher said.