NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Thursday said that he would suggest the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GBSHSE) to consider allowing desirous SSC as well as HSSC students opt for a subject in music, dance or any other such special skill in which they are undergoing training at a reputed institution, and further award them related merit marks, on the lines of the sports merit marks.
“The Goa Board is however an autonomous body and hence I will not pressurise it to take such a decision,” he added.
The Chief Minister was speaking before 28 meritorious students of the 2016 SSC examinations, who had received 96 per cent and above marks at the particular examinations, taken along with their sports merit marks. The parents of the students were also present at the felicitation function held at the Secretariat.
“Our boys and girls have vast talent and skills outside the school curriculum, and are undergoing training in them,” Parsekar, who also holds the Education portfolio, said, observing that the Goa Board needs to think over such students, and come out with a system for granting them merit marks, on the lines of sports merit marks. “We need to harness their cultural abilities,” he added, opining that the Goa Board should give proportional weightage to such students in subjects related to art and culture.
Speaking further, the Chief Minister said that although the Goa Board had discontinued the declaration of merit marks, he asked the Goa Board to provide him with the names of all the students, who had appeared for the 2016 SSC examination and scored 90 per cent and above marks, so as to felicitate them on behalf of his government. “I learnt that the number of such students was 450 and therefore, in order to reduce this number still further, I decided to felicitate only those students, who had scored 96 per cent and above marks,” he noted.
Furthermore, Parsekar said that the decision of the Goa Board to abolish ranking system for SSC and HSSC examinations, and further award sports merit marks was not taken overnight, and had come after thorough deliberations. “The abolition of ranking system in fact ended the unhealthy competition among the students,” he noted.
Students namely Mekhala Salkar, Sahil Raikar, Anirudh Bhat, Lizen Barretto and Shrija Thali expressed their views on the occasion. Some of the parents and teachers present on the occasion also spoke.