Bhubaneswar: A day after the dates of annual matric supplementary exams were released, fresh data today revealed that around 72 per cent of the students who failed in the 2019 annual Class 10 HSC Examinations conducted by the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) in Odisha, have failed in English paper alone.
This year, the Matric Examinations recorded pass percentage of 70.78 per cent, which is over five per cent lower than last year’s 76.23 per cent. Of the total 5,61,079 students who had appeared in the annual examination, 3,97,125 students passed the test while the rest did not make it through.
According to sources, most of the students who did not clear the exams, failed in the English paper. Result data suggests that the figures of such students stand at around 72 per cent.
Experts also believe that this might be the reason behind the drop in the pass percentage in the Matriculation Examination this year.
Asked about whether it has become increasingly difficult for students to clear the English paper, School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash said the State government will seriously look at the situation to see that holistic performance of students improves in the subject.
Das said, “From June 21, I will personally visit schools which recorded nil results this year, to assess the problems and find solutions to improve them.”
It may be noted that amid lapses in the conduct of the matriculation examinations, English subject examination scheduled to be held on February 25 was scrapped in three centres following allegations of malpractice. However, the Board had decided not to conduct re-examination of the paper.
The Board had taken several strict rules to conduct the examination a free and fair manner, but despite strictness, question papers of several papers including English went viral on social media.
As many as 19 teachers and staff have been suspended from their service while 13 people were put behind bars for their involvement in the series of incidents.