3,600 children lose sports marks in SSC results after portal glitch

Pune: An alleged technical glitch which showed applications as ‘under scrutiny' on the Aaple Sarkar portal has left as many as 3,600 students in the state bereft of the additional 10 sports marks granted to acknowledge their achievements, even as the SSC results were declared on Friday.Earlier, documents were given to the school, which then sent a list to the divisional board and so on. This year, the education department had digitised the system. Applications could directly be sent to the district sports authority for additional/ grace/ sports marks in Class X for students excelling in sporting competitions. The authority would forward it to the board after scrutiny so that the marks could be added. The new system meant applications could personally be made online and the document would be processed within 15 days of submission.Meanwhile, several parents complained that children were not granted the extra marks despite submission of applications and documents well within the stipulated time for academic year 2025-26. The status on Aaple Sarkar portal continued to flash ‘under scrutiny.' At present, beneficiaries are hoping that the state board will give time to the sports department to rectify the mistake and allow parents to resubmit documents.A state-level swimmer would have received 10 or 15 additional marks, had his application been approved. It would mean an increase of about 3% in his Class X marksheet percentage, which could be the difference determining whether he makes it to a coveted junior college or not, said his parents.They told TOI: "We applied on behalf of our son on March 10. The status of the application continued to be ‘under scrutiny.' We visited the district sports office in Yerawada when the board said the results were going to be declared. We were told that many forms needed to be resubmitted due to a technical glitch. However, we were never informed or we would have done it promptly. The results are out now and our son has lost the additional marks he deserves. Class X marks are important and 15 makes a big difference in percentage."Parent Shruti Paranjpe told TOI that she had uploaded the documents in March for her daughter, who is a badminton player. "We didn't think much when the website status said ‘under scrutiny.' I realised there may be an issue, when the state board said the results would be out on Friday. I asked another parent who said their status showed ‘approved.' We came to know for sure that the sports marks had not been allotted when the results were announced online on Friday," said Paranjpe, adding that they had not received any intimation from either the sports department or the school."If the website had said ‘document pending' or ‘resubmission required', we would have done it. We have been blindsided and it's no fault of my girl that she missed the additional marks," she added.Deputy director, directorate of sports and youth services, Maharashtra, Uday Joshi said there were indeed nearly 3,600 students whose documents and forms required resubmission. "On scrutiny, we found 2,300 applications with duplicate cellphone numbers. It means the same phone number was used for multiple applications. For example, there is one mobile number with 33 applications and another with 29. It is possible that a school teacher applied on behalf of the students and used the same contact number and email ID. We had sent messages, emails and contacted the state board as well as the schools asking for a resubmission of documents," said Joshi.The state board countered the explanation. Chairperson Trigun Kulkarni said the sports department should have ensured parents were directly informed. Even the letter sent to the education department came beyond the stipulated time of submission. "However, we have told the sports department to ensure that applications of all students who applied on time are scrutinised and marks be sent to the state board. Students should not suffer," said Kulkarni.Joshi was asked about the misleading status ‘under scrutiny' instead of ‘documents pending' or something similar on the Aaple Sarkar portal. He said the portal team had been notified and it was not under the sports department's purview to change the status.