After having failed in exams, agitated students lock school gate in the capital

Failed in exams, a group of class IX students on Wednesday locked the main gate of a government high school in the state capital and staged a protest opposing the evaluation process and pass criteria. The police also detained one of the students in this connection but released immediately.

The incident happened at a Government High School in IRC village when a group of students and a few entered the school premises and locked the main gate from inside leaving teachers outside the campus. Some of the students alleged that they were failed as they were from the nearest slum. The students also staged protest demanding that they must be allowed for form fill up for the upcoming matric board exams.  On being informed, police reached the spot and also detained a student who was later released after giving an undertaking. "Students who had failed to secure 66 per cent attendance and had been failed in the Class IX exam were protesting," said Nayapalli police.

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Out of 460 students in Class IX, around 120 were failed in the 2019-20 academic session for not meeting the pass criteria. Initially, around 164 students had been failed. However, after some social activists moved OHRC opposing pass criteria and subsequent revision of attendance and mark criteria, those securing 115 mark or 66 per cent attendance were put in the merit list and promoted to Class X. However, only 40 students managed to meet the criteria after which the remaining 120 students were failed, sources said. School authorities who refuted the claims of the agitating students said that it wasn't possible for them to allow matric exam form fill up of the failed students as their marks and attendance are too low.