Is CBSE going to introduce a grading system for the Class 10th board exams for the academic year 2007-8 or not? If you go by the Union HRD min­istry's reply to a question posed in the Rajya Sabha, it is not going to be so. CBSE officials, howev­er, say the grading models will be ready by Febru­ary which will come into effect for Class 9th stu­dents from April 2006 and in Class 10th the following year. Special differential models for grading languages and social sci­ences papers are also be­ing developed. While papers for subjects like mathematics and science will be grad­ed as per the uniform model developed by the Board, the need for dif­ferential models for languages and social sci­ences papers was felt given the possibility of subjective marking in certain humanities sub­jects. "The grading sys­tem is almost ready now and we are just fine-tuning differential models for a few subjects. States like Haryana and Himachal Pradesh will follow our nine-point grading system model," said. CBSE chairman Ashok Ganguly. Kerala is also ready with its own grading model. There is also a plan to divide the top grade — A—into three parts, A* and A** to give some kind of indication about the high achievers. "A 90 percent score in math and social sci­ence or English is not comparable. An 80 percent is an excellent score for a humanities student. The comparison should be kept in mind," he added. The CBSE had declared the introduction of the grading system for Class 9th in 2006-07 and Class 10th in 2007-08 in September 2005 after a Council of Boards of School Education in India (COBSE) recommendation. It had also said that the mark sheet awarded to the student would carry a Grade Point Aver­age (GPA) score instead of pass or fails.

( Hindustan Times)