More than 100 higher education students have put their names on a letter opposing the new grading system introduced by North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU).
The 2022 batch students of colleges affiliated to NEHU are in “anguish” over the implementation of the new grading system, which was notified in February 2023.
Under the new system, marks under 40 constitute a Fail (F), 40 to 49 Pass (E), 50-59 Average (D), 60-69 Good (C), 70-79 Very Good (B), 80-80 Excellent (A) and 90-100 Outstanding (O).
In their letter addressed to the NEHU Vice-Chancellor, the students said that even when it was notified, they were worried that the grading system would affect their future careers very badly.
Under the previous system, a student with marks between 45 to 54 was awarded a C grade whereas now a student would have to score between 60 and 69 for a C.
“The question here arises – is it justifiable to bring such a drastic change, equalising a student who gets 60 percent marks with the one who gets only 45 percent marks?” the letter read.
It was decided in June this year that the grading system will take effect from the 2023-24 academic session but the students who signed the letter have complained that results for the 2022 batch have been presented using the “faulty” grading system, thereby giving them “very low grades”.
