Students failing Class IX can take 4 supplementary tests

Panaji: Students failing Class IX in 2024-25 will get an opportunity to clear the class by appearing for up to four supplementary exams, the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has said, in its instructions for passing criteria.
This is the first year when the Class IX batch will pass out after the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) for the class.
The Goa board has said it will apply its new compensation scheme, announced for Class X for the 2025-26 batch, for the 2024-25 Class IX batch as well. Under the compensation scheme, if a student fails in any two core subjects, he or she will be considered to have passed Class IX if they have scored at least 65% in any two skill-based subjects and a minimum of 50% in the other two skill-based subjects.
These skill-based subjects are the four new subjects introduced in addition to the six core ones.
However, even Class IX students who do not meet the compensation scheme criteria will be allowed to keep terms (ATKT) for Class X, even if they fail in all the core subjects.
“The students will be able to keep terms and join Class X. They will even be able to answer the Class X public exam,” said Goa board chairperson Bhagirath Shetye. “But their results will not be declared until they clear their Class IX backlog. We have done this so that students do not waste their year repeating Class IX.”
Shetye added, “Instead they can move forward and answer up to four supplementary exams over a period of two years to clear their backlog. And they can study in Class X simultaneously.”
The board has said the minimum passing marks in a subject for Class IX are 33 out of 100. There is no separate passing required in the external component, it has said.
A Class IX student failing in five or six core subjects will also have the option of taking a leaving certificate and registering as a private candidate of the board for Class X.