MUMBAI, March 25: The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education in a confidential circular has asked its examiners to ``be liberal'' while assessing HSC English papers.The circular, released after a meeting of chief moderators and members of the board of studies of English on March 14, clearly states that the examiners should be ``liberal regarding assessment of answers specially essay answers (Q.No.7).''Flabbergasted English teachers in the city don't know what to make of the order. ``Over the years there has been a constant degeneration of the English language, but this takes the cake. How can we maintain proper standards when we are at the mercy of the whims and fancies of the Board?'' asked an anguished English examiner. Another examiner said that if they were to objectively assess the English answerbooks a large number of students would fail as most of them can't even string together a sentence. ``Even at a workshop held earlier this year we were told to be lenient. Wewere asked to lay more stress on effective communication skills than the grammar or language,'' he said.However, some examiners said it was okay to be lenient while assessing essays as every examiner had its own criteria of quality. While some lay emphasis on the style, others look for the basic idea.But the `pro-be-liberal' examiners are clearly in the minority. ``The `be liberal' stance will not only inflate the results but also contribute to the production of semi-literate undergraduates and graduates,'' said a professor.Principal D B Kadam of Bhavan's college (Andheri), said: ``This is for the first time that the Board has said this in black and white. First they dilute the HSC syllabus for the benefit of vernacular students and now this. I wonder if our students can even write their resumes properly,'' he said. Express Newsline had recently reported that the works of Shakespeare had been omitted from the new HSC syllabus for English as the authorities felt that the rural students would find theBard of Avon too taxing. When contacted the Divisional Board Chairman at Sion, S Abidi, did not wish to comment on the matter. He said the guidelines were confidential. The Minister of State for Education, Anil Deshmukh, too did not wish to comment on the Board circular. He said he had not seen it yet. He, however, admitted that ``a large number of students in the state fail in English and Maths, and that's why the English syllabus was made simpler.''
