Punjab government has announced a major change in board examination ranking system and students who secure the same marks in board exams will now be given the same rank.
The decision ends the earlier practice of using a student's date of birth to decide ranks when marks were equal and the announcement was made after students shared their concerns directly with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann during state's 'Sitaare Zameen Te' programme.
Punjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains confirmed that date of birth based tie-breaker system has been removed and said that in future students with equal marks will receive the same rank ensuring equal treatment for students with identical academic performance.
The decision comes after a Class 10 student Gagandeep Kaur from Amritsar district raised the issue during the programme.
Gagandeep along with Tanvir Kaur and Rajpreet Kaur had scored 637 marks each in Punjab School Education Board examination however they were given different ranks because of age based tie-breaker rule and during the event AAP Punjab affairs in charge Manish Sisodia invited students to suggest changes they would make if they were education minister for a day. Gagandeep questioned why students with the same marks were being ranked differently based on age.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann initially responded by saying that all three students were first in eyes of the government however Gagandeep continued to press the issue pointing out that only one student had been invited on stage as the topper following the discussion Mann directed education department to change the policy and announced that rank would be decided only on basis of marks and not on age.
Apart from the ranking change Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains also spoke about planned reforms in examination system and said future board question papers will focus more on competency based questions and the aim of this is to test students' understanding, reasoning and analytical skills instead of encouraging rote learning and memorisation.
The minister also said the government will take strict steps to prevent cheating and paper leaks and reiterated government's commitment to maintaining transparency and fairness in examinations.
During the interaction session students suggested several reforms and these included ending VIP culture in education, improving primary level textbooks, increasing reasoning based questions, reducing dependence on rote learning and strengthening measures against cheating.
Manish Sisodia said India's examination system needs major reforms and stated that exams should assess a student's overall abilities and competence rather than depend only on a three-hour test.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also highlighted Punjab's progress in education and pointed to state's improved performance in national education rankings, increasing number of girls among board toppers and success of 359 government school students in JEE Main meanwhile Punjab has performed strongly in NITI Aayog Education Quality Report 2026.
According to the report Punjab recorded 82% proficiency in language and 78% in mathematics among Class 3 students and in Class 9 mathematics Punjab achieved 52% proficiency.
Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said state's achievements were result of continuous reforms, improved school infrastructure and efforts of teachers, students and parents and he also stated that government schools in Punjab have seen significant infrastructure improvements in recent years.
