The Supreme Court, on November 18, asked the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) committee to examine afresh the grievances raised by a few Class 12 pass-outs regarding allocation of marks. “We direct the concerned committee to examine the grievance of the petitioners afresh and record reasons for rejecting or accepting the contentions raised by the petitioners for questioning the allocation/rationalisation of marks given to them,” a bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and CT Ravikumar said.
The apex court passed the order while hearing a petition filed by students of a school in Gujarat, they claimed that they scored fewer marks as their result is not based on their actual performance as per the 30:30:40 formula of the Board.
What is this formula?
The CBSE had earlier said it would evaluate Class 12 students for theory based on 30 per cent marks from their Class 10 exams, 30 per cent from Class 11, and 40 per cent from marks based on the performance in the unit, mid-term, and pre-board tests in Class 12. It had said that marks obtained by Class 12 students in practical and internal assessment, on an 'actual' basis, as uploaded by schools on the CBSE Portal would be also considered in deciding final results.
On June 17, the top court had approved the assessment schemes of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) and the CBSE, which had adopted this formula. The apex court had approved the assessment schemes of the CISCE and CBSE and had said that it should incorporate the provision for dispute resolution in case students want correction of the final result.
The CBSE had earlier told the apex court that it has “duly followed” the assessment scheme in evaluating marks of Class 12 students whose exams were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The courtroom drama
The counsel appearing for the petitioners said the matter raises the issue of alleged non-implementation of the evaluation policy in the true letter and spirit. The counsel argued that there was a difference in marks that should have been given to these students based on their actual performance and the marks given in the results. “Their grievance is that they have not been awarded marks as per the evaluation policy affirmed by the court,” the counsel argued, adding that the petitioners are not challenging the evaluation policy in any manner.
The counsel appearing for the CBSE told the bench that the school was duly informed that results were declared as per the policy of the CBSE. The bench then asked whether the concerned authority had given reasons while dealing with grievances raised by students.
The petitioners had also alleged that the Board failed in properly implementing the procedure of dispute redressal mechanism relating to the results. The plea seeks directions from the court to the CBSE so that it would declare the students' results based on the 30:30:40 promised formula in addition to taking into consideration the actual marks obtained by them. The bench said that the plea filed before it is treated as representation and directed the committee to deal with the grounds raised in the plea appropriately within two weeks. The top court has listed the matter for hearing after two weeks.
