Telangana: New credit system boosts pass percentage in diploma courses

Continuous evaluation and the credit system introduced by SBTET are yielding positive results in the diploma courses with the pass percentage of students going up by 39 percent

Hyderabad: Continuous evaluation and the credit system introduced by the State Board of Technical Education and Training (SBTET) are yielding positive results in the diploma courses with the pass percentage of students going up by 39 percent.

After the introduction of Curriculum or C-18 in 2018, an outcome-based education model, by SBTET, the pass percentage of diploma students went up from 53.57 for the academic batch 2017-20 to 92.06 percent for 2018-2021 and 92.727 for the academic batch 2019-2022.

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The Board officials attributed the increase in the pass percentage to continuous evaluation, which was not done in the previous curriculums. As per C-18, the content has been divided into part 1, 2 and 3. The mid-semesters I and II are conducted considering part 1 and 2 respectively, while the end semester is held for 40 marks of which 20 marks are covered from part 3 and the rest marks are covered by overall course contents.

The question paper pattern for the mid-semester too underwent changes with part-A consisting of ‘remember’ based questions, part-B comprising ‘understanding’ questions, and part-C consisting of ‘application’ based questions. This apart, slip test 1 and 2 with five marks for each test besides assignments for five marks and seminar, paper presentation, or group discussion for five marks have been included as part of assessing students.

Apart from changes in the assessment pattern, the credit system has boosted the pass percentage. As per the new system, students have to secure a minimum of 130 out of 150 credits for obtaining the diploma. Earlier, students had to secure a minimum of 35 per cent of marks in each examination and clear all subjects to obtain the diploma certificate. “Earlier, even if the student had scored one mark less than requisite, he/she was marked fail. Now, if a student scores fewer credits in one subject but meets the minimum total credits requirement, he/she will be awarded the diploma certificate,” a senior official explained.