Maharashtra 'Best of Five' Rule

A REPORT
ON
͚BEST OF FIVE CASE͛

FROM:-
Gaurav Kalya
MBATech CS 312
cPage

In Indian society education plays a very important role. A person is judged by the education
he/she has. As India is know for the diversity in its culture a lot of diversity can be found in
the INDIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM.
Indian Education System consists of a different education system, marking system, course
pattern etc. In India many number of boards co exist in the system. Each board has its own
criteria to judge students capabilities. Some board judge student on behalf of knowledge
whereas the other board judge student by applying new system for marking etc.
The different board which are there in India are CBSE , ICSE, RAJ board , SSC board and many
more state boards.
As mentioned above the system uses different scheme for judgement of student there are
lots of different Grading Scheme going on in education system.
The different marking Schemes are:
1. Grading System
2. Best of 5 System
3. Percentage System
4. Percentile System
Grading system consists of the marking scheme in which students are given grade
depending upon the marks they have obtained in the examinations.
Similarly the other system also evaluate the student performance in exams but they provide
percentage of the marks obtain in the exams or they do cumulative grading system .
The basic difference comes in the new system like ͚Best Of Five͛ in this system a student is
allowed give exams of 5-6 subjects depending upon the board but the ultimate fate of
student is decided on the basis of the marks scored in the five subjects only.
Use of so many marking scheme put student in dilemma . The student is unable to
understand the advantage or disadvantage of the above system till the results are declared .
After the declaration of results when a student compares his/her result with the student of
the same standard but of the other board than the real game begins.
A student can suffer or enjoy with joy with the system because when after results begins the
fight for admission in good junior colleges. A student with nice grades get admission in good
junior colleges while the others opt for the remaining option all over the coun try.
rPage

The policy, announced in February, stated that for admission to junior college SSC students͛
best five scores out of the total of six subjects would be counted in calculating the average
percentage. The ͚Best Five͛ system, recently introduced by the Maharashtra government,
provides for a student͛s top five scores being taken into account for his overall percentage.
The ͚best of five͛ system is already in place in the CBSE and ICSE examinations and the idea
to introduce this in the st ate was to reduce the pressure of exams from students at the
same time bring parity between the state and other systems. Under the new ͚best of five͛
concept, students will have a choice to drop any subject which they fear or about whom
they are not confident of scoring in the examination. While, the languages ʹ Marathi and
English will be compulsory, students can choose three subjects out of four, namely
Mathematics, Social Sciences, Science and Hindi. The 'best of five' system was proposed for
Secondary School Certificate (SSC) Board students. As per the rule marks obtained in five
out of the six subjects would be considered for Class XI admissions. One subject in which the
student has done worst would be left out from consideration.
This rule was mooted by the state education board as it found the evaluation of papers by
ICSE and CBSE boards was more liberal putting the SSC students at a disadvantage.
The only difference between the best of five subjects pattern in CBSE exams and the state
will be that, here in the state, students will have to compulsory appear for two languages,
while in CBSE and ICSE only English is compulsory. Students usually fear Mathematics or
Science and the state board authorities said majority students fare badly in these two
subjects.
͞If a student were to drop Mathematics or Science, he would not qualify for admission in
the science stream, but he can certainly seek admission in the Arts and Commerce stream,͟
a state education department official said.
State Education Minister, Balasaheb Thorat said, ͞The spate of suicides in the state has
exposed the fear students harbour about the board examinations and the subjects. We
want to make the examinations as student-friendly as possible.
We intend to take a decision on the ͚best of five͛ scheme shortly. However, before we
introduce the new system for the coming examination, we intend to hold meetings of
parents all over the state to bring in consensus on the issue.͟ State education Board chief,
Page
Vijaysheela Sardesai, confirmed that the state education department has asked the board to
work out the ͚best of five͛ subjects scheme for the coming March SSC examination.

Maharashtra Government approved the 'best of five' formula on 26 feb 2010 for junior college
admissions from the next academic year, in order to bring parity with other educational boards.

!

!
"

#
The students appearing for Secondary School Certificate exam (10th class) scheduled in March
would be eligible for the option, the official said.

$

%
The Parents of students who appeared in ICSE board for 10 th std put the argument that the
maha govt is providing undue advantage to the student of SSC board. As in ICSE board a
student is allowed to appear for 7 subject for his / her 10 th std. The marksheet which come
at the end of the results consists of marks obtained in all the 7 subjects. As a result the
student of ICSE board may score less percentage in total.
The students of SSC got advantage over ICSE students as they got end result from the marks
obtained in five subject from the best scored from 6 subjects.

!
" ! " #! !
" " "! !
"
"
$%
ÖPage

$

!

!
Senior advocate Rafiq Dada, counsel for the petitioners, alleged that the newly introduced method
was "the percentile system with a vengeance" - referring to the formula awarding grace marks to
SSC students that had been stuck down by the HC in 2008. The lawyer claimed that the state and the
SSC board had devised the system to give its students an advantage over other boards. "With the aid
of Best-Five, the percentage scored by SSC students have increased by four to five percentage,"
claimed Dada.
The ICSE board too backed its students. "The new rule gives benefits to less meritorious SSC
students," argued advocate Raju Subramanian, counsel for the ICSE board. He pointed out that while
in the whole of Maharashtra there were merely 8,289 ICSE students who passed the Standard X
examinations, the Best-Five system had helped around 13,500 SSC students (out of 16 lakh students)
to score over 90 % marks. "The admissions to first year junior college for ICSE students would be
jeopardised," claimed Subramanian.
8th June
&'(! (
!) *!+ !

!
,! ! "!
& )" &' "!
! ! '
!
!
!'&'
- ." ' !
! &'
/& ! " ! "
01) / "!
" " "! &'
. !" 2
, !
&'"! "0
3 4
) 56
ßPage
&( !! &'"

! "
! !
&'

(

Day-long arguments concluded before a division bench of acting chief Justice J N Patel and Justice S
C Dharmadhikari, as both sidesͶICSE and SSCͶtraded charges that the students from the other
board enjoyed an ͞unfair advantage͛͛ over its own.
Some passionate arguments from the senior advocates in the courtroom packed with parents,
students and lawyers following every word. Heads nodded vigorously in agreement when the
counsel made an argument in their favour, while others grimaced, disagreeing with the point.
The state board had introduced the best-five system so that SSC marksheets would show the
percentage of the marks scored in the top five subjects. Parents of ICSE students moved the HC
claiming discrimination in the admission process.The HC had stayed FYJC admissions till the
controversy was resolved.
The judges asked the ICSE board whether it was willing to offer its students the option of choosing
the top five subject scores. Senior advocate Rafiq Dada, counsel for the petitioners, alleged that the
newly introduced method was ͞the percentile system with a vengeance͛͛Ͷreferring to the formula
awarding grace marks to SSC students that had been stuck down by the HC in 2008. He claimed that
the state and the SSC board had devised the system to give its students an advantage over other
boards.
͞With the aid of Best-Five, the percentage scored by SSC students have increased by four to five
percentage,͛͛ claimed Dada.
The ICSE board, too, backed its students. ͞The new rule gives benefits to less meritorious SSC
students,͛͛ argued advocate Raju Subramanian, counsel for the ICSE board. He pointed out that while
in the whole of Maharashtra there were merely 8,289 ICSE students who passed the Standard X
examinations, the best-five system had helped around 13,500 SSC students (out of 16 lakh students)
to score over 90% marks. ͞The admissions to first year junior college for ICSE students would be
jeopardised,͛͛ claimed Subramanian.
Refuting the allegations, Maharashtra advocate general Ravi Kadam told the court that the state had
not touched the rules governing FYJC admissions. ͞Only the regulations concerning the format of SSC
mark sheets have been changed to reflect the scores of the top five subjects,͛͛ said Kadam, adding
that students would have to however pass all the six subjects. The advocate general said that even
the other boards have their own rulesͶCBSE takes into account only five of its six subjects, while
ICSE declares its students as passed even if they fail in two of the seven subjects. FYJC admissions
norms say that a student has to pass five subjects, including English, in the Standard X examinations
]Page
to be eligible for admission.
Kadam said that the state had approved the best-five system as it wanted to reduce the burden on
SSC students. ͞A student may be weak in one subject, but we didn͛t want him to suffer if he has
performed well in the other five subjects,͛͛ he said.
The advocate general also accused the ICSE board of failing to be proactive
"
!7"! ,
!+ / ! ,,8
! !&'! !!+
" " "

"" 9 "
!+ "!
It may be noted that in the last couple of years, the state had twice attempted to change the norms
for FYJC admissions, once with the percentile formula in 2008 and the 90:10 system in 2009. Both
met with failure when the high court struck them down, saying that it put students from other
boards at a disadvantage during the admission process. This time, the state has left the admission
process untouched (see box) but only changed the marksheet format.
Interestingly, however, when it initially issued the GR announcing the Best Five rule, the government
did it under Regulation 79 of the Maharashtra Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Boards
Act, that lays down eligibility criteria to FYJC. Subsequently, it issued a corrigendum that an error
had crept in and the Best Five rule was actually made under Regulation 56, 58 and 59 which concern
the issue of mark sheets and certificates.
Replying to the allegations that there were no consultations with the other boards, the state said it
was not required to do so. ͞For amending its own rules for its own students of Standard X,
petitioners cannot insist on consultation and deliberation by the state board with other boards,͛͛ the
affidavit said.
The petition filed by parents of ICSE students had claimed that Best Five gave unfair advantage to
SSC students. The state, however, refuted it, saying that nothing prevented other boards from
implementing a similar system. ͞The policy of Best Five is adopted only for issuing the marksheet
and certificate, and therefore it is entirely the discretion of the ICSE board whether to adopt the
policy of Best Five or not for its own students,͛͛ said S P Khorgade, under-secretary, school and
education department.
& !)&5)3:6 ;

&" #
; &
#! " # ""
Page
&
" #

Decision By SC:
+ "
" (
&' # ! !
4 1 &'!
! ! !
! "! ! !
& ! (
&'!

&
6 3 &<-&< =
" !#
& -!" "
!&

!
! &'
!
"" ! ; 6 '#
!!

! &

>4 " #
"
&" "
!
&
! ! &
' "!
´Page

Maharashtra 'Best of Five' Rule

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Maharashtra 'Best of Five' Rule

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

A REPORT

͚BEST OF FIVE CASE͛

The different marking Schemes are:

) 56

& !)&5)3:6 ;

You might also like

Maharashtra 'Best of Five' Rule

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Maharashtra 'Best of Five' Rule

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

A REPORT

͚BEST OF FIVE CASE͛

The different marking Schemes are:

      

  )   5 6       

&   !)&5)3:6      ; 

You might also like

) 56

& !)&5)3:6 ;