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Ranking makes make way for grading; new districts break into top 10

BENGALURU: In a deviation from the norm, Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board has not ranked education districts based on their students’ pass percentage in SSLC exams . It has rolled out a grading procedure for them.


Grading has been done based on three criteria: 40% weightage has been given to pass percentage in each district, 40% to average marks scored by all students and 20% to number of students with distinctions and first class.




The new system has thrown up a few surprises. While Mangaluru and Davanagere, which were among the top 10 districts last year, have got grade B, Madhugiri, which was in the 11th spot and Chikkaballapura in 20th, have made it to the list of districts with grade A.

Ten education districts have bagged grade A: Chikkaballapura, Bengaluru Rural, Madhugiri, Mandya, Chitradurga, Udupi, Kolar, Ramanagara, Hassan and Uttara Kannada. While Belagavi, Gadag, Haveri and Yadgir have secured grade C, the others have got grade B.

“There was a lot of unhealthy competition among districts, apart from emphasis on rote learning. That’s why we decided to change the system. Districts getting above 75% will be awarded grade A, those between 75% and 60% grade B and others grade C,” explained Sumangala V, director, KSEEB.

“Under the grading system , all 34 districts can aspire to be on top,” added KG Jagadeesha, commissioner of department of public instruction.

As many as 5,859 schools fall in A category, 4,310 in B and 4,228 in C. This system also allows the board to focus on lowperforming schools.

No first rank: Education department

While the government claimed it has switched to grading to avoid unhealthy competition, presence of Chikkaballapura on top of the list sparked off a round of back-slappings. While district officials congratulated each other, K Sudhakar, medical education minister and in-charge of the district, took to Twitter to congratulate students, teachers and parents.

“All 10 districts with grade A are equal. There’s no subdivision among them. There’s no particular order we followed in naming them in the press release. We’ll change the way they’re depicted,” said Jagadeesha.

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