Bengaluru: Upset over the officials action of awarding 20 grace marks to SSLC students (2023-24) in order to prop up the results, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday took the officials to task for awarding grace marks to SSLC students this year.

Addressing an informal meeting of Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of different Departments at Vidhana Soundha here yesterday, Siddaramaiah raised the SSLC grace marks issue and the drop in results.

Taking the officials to task for awarding 20 grace marks, the CM wanted to know who took the decision to award grace marks in order to help the students pass the exam. The CM who got angered when officials attempted to defend the awarding of grace marks for improvement of results, saying that it was awarded during COVID pandemic too, came down heavily on the officials.

Deputy Chief Minister D.K.Shivakumar too joined the CM in chiding the officials. The CM, while wondering what was the purpose of conducting the exam if students who score low marks are passed through grace marks, also contended that the grace marks will render injustice to bright  students, who had studied hard all throughout the year.

The CM later directed the Education Department officials  to stop awarding grace marks in SSLC from next year.