Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Apr 22: The education department has decided to give 21 grace marks to second PU students in mathematics. For question Nos 3, 13, 16, 20, 24, 33, 45 and 49 b, they will earn full marks irrespective of whether their answers are right or not.

The department had been receiving demands for grace marks for questions which pertain to out of syllabus. Responding to the demand, primary and secondary education minister, Kimmane Ratnakar, had said that a committee of experts had been formed and that a decision would be taken based on its recommendation. The committee had opined that the question paper did not have any questions which were not from the text book.

Some mathematics teachers who have been entrusted with the work of evaluation of answer sheets said that they have been asked to give grace marks for the above eight questions, for all students who have attempted these questions. One of the lecturers said that for being eligible for grace marks, the student should have at least mentioned the question numbers in the answer sheets. Those who did not attempt the questions because they were tough will not get grace marks, he added.

One among them wondered what is the relevance of conducting examinations, if students are awarded 21 grace marks out of 100. "They could have passed all the students by announcing 25 grace marks," he commented sarcastically. When agreeing that mathematics question paper was a bit tough this time, he felt that there was no need to grant so many grace marks, as students who are able to get nine marks in normal course, can now score 30 marks because of the grace marks, and get pass marks in mathematics, he explained.

However, several lecturers strongly believe that the future of many students would have been affected if grace marks were not given, as the question paper had questions which were not from the text book.