Declare class 12 results by May 31: HRD Ministry to state education boards

New Delhi: The state education boards have agreed to declare the results of higher secondary examinations (Class 12) by May 31, a suggestion given by the HRD Ministry to avoid delays in counselling for admissions to centrally funded technical institutes through JEE.

At a meeting of over 40 all-India and state education boards, however, no decision could be reached at checking the trend of excessively high board exam scores.

The meeting was called by the HRD Ministry against the backdrop of growing anxiety among parents and their wards about the high cut-offs year after year.

The issue figured prominently at the meeting chaired by senior Ministry officials, sources said, but several such meetings would be held in the coming months before a solution was found on modulation of marks.

The Council of Boards of School Education in India (COBSE) would hold another round of meeting next month to carry forward the discussion.

A committee was, however, formed to design a question format which could be emulated by other state boards.

The state boards, however, agreed to the Ministry's suggestion of declaring the higher secondary results by May 31 every year so that the data relating to students' marks was tabulated by the CBSE in time before the counselling for NITs, IITs and other centrally funded technical institutes begins.

Delay in declaring results by state boards this year had led to the postponement of the counselling for admission to these institutes.

The meeting also decided to set up three other committees, of which one would look into adoption of best practices to check malpractices during the exams, the other would look into the teacher training aspect and the third will deliberate upon designing a core course curriculum.

While deliberating on the record marks secured, a few state boards were understood to have discussed strategies on "neutralising" the marks though they were at the concept level, sources said.

Around 8,917 of the 12 lakh students who took CBSE Class 12th board exams this year had secured more than 95 per cent. The first cut-off for admission to leading Delhi University colleges has for years been set above 95 per cent.