Chandigarh, November 14
The Haryana Government has woken up to the importance of mathematics and English. Passing these subjects has been made
compulsory to clear the examinations at the middle school and secondary level.
To be applicable from the academic session of 2006-07, the students will also be required to attain pass marks in environment education, which is one of the latest additions in the “mandatory” list introduced for the 2005-06 session. Hindi has always been a compulsory subject in government schools.
Seen as a significant departure from the existing 15-year-old system of examinations, students will now have to pass four subjects compulsorily.
At the senior secondary level, the requirement of passing in all five subjects remains unchanged.
However, in all three categories of examination, a student can choose an optional paper. However, marks of only the best five will be counted if a student passes in all the six
subjects. The mark sheet will also specify the marks of the subject that has not been counted with an “NC” against it.
In the earlier scheme of things, English was one of the three optional second languages and the students could choose Sanskrit or Punjabi also. Passing in mathematics was not all that important if a student “managed” the other five subjects since there was a provision to opt for a sixth subject under the “optional” head in the curriculum.
The revised pass formula for middle school states that students will have to pass in Hindi, English, mathematics and environmental education. Out of science, social science and a third language, a student has to pass in any two subjects.
At the secondary school level,
a student has to pass in craft in addition to the four subjects and at least two from the remaining 2/3rd subjects.
The eligibility for admission to Class XI in government schools has also been altered. From passing in all six subjects and securing a minimum of 40 per cent in the aggregate, students will now be required to score 40 per cent in science and mathematics besides passing a minimum of five subjects for admission to the science stream.
For the commerce stream, securing a minimum of 40 per cent has been made mandatory in addition to clearing at least five papers. For arts, the criteria of passing five subjects has been fixed.
The Director General, Education, Mr K.K.
Khandelwal, says a revision of the scheme of studies and the pass formula was long overdue.
“Everything revolves around mathematics and English in today’s world. If our students are not thorough in these subjects which are the basis of practically everything, we can’t expect them to be anywhere in society. We know that initially pass percentages in our schools will come down considerably because of the ‘compulsory’ tag. However, the teachers have a year to prepare the students who will benefit from this change in the long run,” he says.
