Panaji: It has been over a decade since the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education adopted the sports merit marks policy. This policy allowed students to be compensated with marks for the time spent away from academics due to participation in sports events. The aim was to create a level playing field in academics for students inclined towards sports.
However, in recent years, the number of students benefiting from sports merit marks has declined significantly. This change occurred after central directives stipulated that sports merit marks could only be added to the academic score if the student needed them to pass the exam.
For instance, in 2015, two years after the policy was introduced, 207 students passed Class XII with the help of sports merit marks. By 2020, the contribution of sports merit marks to the overall pass percentage had fallen to less than 1%, with only 147 of the 3,098 applicants clearing the Class XII exam using these marks. In 2022, 349 students availed sports merit marks, but just nine managed to pass Class XII with this benefit.
In 2026, 2,626 Class XII students earned sports merit marks, but only 87 passed with their help. Similarly, in Class X this year, 6,637 students availed sports merit marks, yet only 67 passed with this assistance.
Goa Board chairperson Bhagirath Shetye attributed this trend to several factors. One reason is that students are performing well academically and may not require sports merit marks to clear exams. Secondly, students who need sports merit marks often require a higher number of marks than the five or ten they may have earned. A major change came after central directives that sports merit marks could only be added if it helps a student pass.
The board's December 2013 circular stated, 'The sports merit marks shall be added to the total marks secured by a student and shown on the marks list. The total marks secured shall in no case exceed the total maximum marks.' However, a circular issued on September 22, 2017 overruled the 2013 directive. The new circular said that sports merit marks earned by Class X and Class XII students 'shall not be added to the grand total marks secured by the candidate' and would be reflected separately on marksheets from the 2018 public examinations.
Prior to this directive, sports merit marks had been a contentious issue, especially for Class X and XII students during college admissions, as they could inflate overall scores.
