Sports quota helps 39 from state score 100%
MUMBAI: Thirty-nine students in the state scored 100%, thanks to sports marks.

Tanaya Wadkar, from Sawantwadi, Sindhudurg district, scored a perfect 100 because of the sports marks. She secured 99 in Sanskrit, 98 in science and 97 in mathematics. “I aspire to become an IAS officer.”
The sports marks scheme, which was discontinued at least three years ago, has made a comeback this year. Around 4,233 students from across the state, including 456 in the Mumbai division, benefitted from sports marks in the SSC exams this year.
“We have given sports marks ranging from 15 to 25 marks,” Gangadhar Mhamane, chairperson of the state board. Mhamane said the criteria for the sports marks were more stringent this time. Only those students who had won the tournaments played in Class 10 were given the marks.
Moreover, around 91 students, who were on the verge of failing, managed to meet the minimum passing criteria of 35% because of the sports marks.
Swarali Chodnekar, 15, stared with disbelief at her online result for the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams, which were announced on Monday. She had originally secured 95%, but her percentage jumped to 99% after she was awarded an additional 20 marks for winning state-level fencing tournaments.
“I was confident of scoring well even without the sports quota marks. The 20 extra marks have given a big push to my overall score and I couldn’t have asked for more,” said Chodnekar, a student of IES’s VN Sule School in Dadar.
Sharan Shetty, St Joseph’s High School in Vikhroli, for instance, received 25 marks for bagging a gold medal at the state-level Wushu Championship held in Nanded last year. “We were a team of 10 students who had participated in the event and we all won the gold. I couldn’t participate in the national-level competition because my prelims were around the same time,” said Shetty.
School principals said sports marks were needed for students because they balanced both sports and studies in their Class 10. “Students playing sports have to miss out on lectures, find time to study in between matches, so it is fair to reward them for their efforts,” said Yogesh Patel, director, Swami Vivekananda International Schools, Kandivli and Gorai.
Father Agnel Multipurpose School in Vashi even felicitated students who represented the school or the state at the national level. “It takes a lot of courage to continue their passion in sports and study at the same time, so these extra marks serve as an incentive,” said Snigdha Roy, principal of the school.
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