Why are so many kids failing std IX?

Noticing that an alarming number of Std IX students are failing to attain enough grades for promotion the south zone Education Department has sent a circular to all governmentrecognised schools within their jurisdiction asking them to send in the marks of their Std IX students for this academic session School of thought The number of students failing in Std IX over the last two years has been a cause for worry in city schools representation pic A copy of the circular is with MiD DAY The south zone education office issued the circular on May 2 asking schools to provide details of the numbers of male and female Std IX students studying in their school as well as details about how many students had appeared for the Std IX exam and how many had achieved promotion marks The number of students failing in Std IX over the last two years has been a cause for worry in city schools Most parents and students attribute it to the education departmentrsquos rule which makes it mandatory for Std IX students to score 25 per cent marks in the theory part of their mathematics and science papers On the other hand school principals are blaming the Right to Education rule which makes it compulsory for all schools to promote students till grade VIII a rule which they believe is making students lackadaisical and complacent about their academic performance The school principals now fear that students in SSC schools where this rule is soon to be implemented may suffer similarly All Std IX students in order to be promoted must score 25 per cent marks in the theory section of their math algebra and geometry and science papers Manjur Ahmed president of the Headmasters Association said ldquoI feel that the education department thinks that many students would be failed on purpose by schools so that all the students from their schools get promoted in the board exams This is why the education department wants to check the details of Std IX students from all schoolsrdquo A principal from a South Mumbai school said ldquoIt is true that more and more students are failing in Std IX now This is all because of the rule implemented by the education department where a child has to score 25 per cent in theory exams Even if he or she performs well in practicals they will be failed unless they score the minimum in theory This rule will be implemented by SSC schools as well this year onwards and is sure to affect results of their students as well Maybe schools want cent percent pass percentage for the students who give board exams so they are holding back all weak students in class IXrdquo The parent of student from Queen Maryrsquos High School Mumbra said ldquoNinety five students from Std IX failed here We complained to education officers about this The schools explained that they failed poor students in Std IX because they want all their students to pass in their board examsrdquou00a0 Failing students to shutu00a0down school Last year about 90 girls failed in Std IX at the New Girls School in Thane West after which many parents protestedu00a0Worried parents now claim that the school is intentionally failing students as it wants to shut down the institutionu00a0The number of students in the school has been dwindling over the yearsu00a0From a healthy 1843 in 2006 the number of students on the register from between Std V and XII has decreased to 862u00a0Four to five divisions in the school have already been shut downu00a0Sadhana Shinde principal of the school said ldquoIt is true that about 90 students from Std IX failed last year The reason why students are performing badly in grade IX is that their mandatory promotion from Std I to Std VIII has made them lazyrdquou00a0Alhad Joshi secretary of the Peoplersquos Education Society Thane said ldquoWe have no plans of shutting down our school immediately Our divisions are closing down because the parents wish to put their kids in English medium schools rather than our Marathi medium schoolu00a0AL Misal education officer of the Thane district said ldquoIf there arenrsquot enough students to fill a division it gets shut downrdquou00a0 Distribution of marks Subject u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 Total marks u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0Minimum score u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 allotted u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0for promotion Science theory u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a060 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a015 Algebra u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a060 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 15 Geometry u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 60 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 15 u00a0