Delhi Directorate of Education extends revised 2020-21 promotion policy for Class 9, 11 students

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Directorate of Education on Friday announced the extension of the revised 2020-21 promotion policy for the current academic session for students of Classes 9 and 11 of private and government schools in view of "exceptional circumstances'' due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Necessary changes have been made keeping in mind the Scheme of Assessment issued by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for the 2021-22 academic year, according to an order issued by Director (Education) Himanshu Gupta.

"In view of the exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, the revised promotion policy 2020-21 is extended for the academic session 2021-22 also," the order stated. The department directed all government, government-aided, and recognised unaided (private) schools to comply with these guidelines. In case a private school desires to have separate criteria, it can seek prior approval of the director (education) before the declaration of results, the order stated.

Under the policy, results of students will be calculated for promotion or up-gradation to the next higher class on the basis of marks obtained in the mid-term exam (term-1), marks of the annual exam (term-2) and marks of internal assessment, project, practical or all taken together. The passing criteria will be 33 per cent marks -- 33 marks and above out of 100 marks -- in each of the five main subjects.

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"A maximum of 15 grace marks will be awarded to a student to reach the minimum required 33 per cent of marks in one or any number of subjects only for promotion to the next higher class," it said. "In case a student does not score 33 per cent marks in any one language i.e Language-1 or Language-2 in Class 9, third language opted and qualified (scored 33 per cent and above) by the student will replace either Language-1 or Language-2 only for promotion to the next higher class," read the policy. The policy makes it mandatory for a student to qualify for the additional subject paper opted by them before appearing in CBSE board examinations for Classes 10 and 12.

It also stated that skill course subjects opted by a student in Class 9 will not replace any elective subject like maths, natural science, social science, music, home science and painting. The schools which conducted examinations in the blended mode for term-2 shall be allowed to compute the result based upon the scores obtained by students. "In case a student could not appear in offline examination of term-2 due to lack of parental consent or school could not conduct offline-online examination..., the school shall conduct such examination after March 3 in offline mode. The marks obtained by the students in this examination shall be used for computation of result," it said.

The policy also said that in case a student could not appear for whatsoever reasons in term-1 or term-2 exams or scores less than 33 per cent marks in one or more subjects, he or she will be eligible to appear in the subjects at 'compartment examination' to be held after March 31 in offline mode. Compartment exams will be conducted on the basis of syllabus, design of question papers and weightage of marks of annual examinations (term-2).

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The results of the compartment examination will be declared on the basis of conversion of marks obtained by the student in the compartment exam plus marks of internal assessment, project, practical or all taken together. "For conversion of marks, the maximum marks and marks obtained in compartment examinations will be multiplied by two," it said. The student has to secure 33 per cent marks in the subject for which they have taken the compartment exam. No benefit of grace marks will be given to students for computing the result of compartment exam, it said.