Even though it has been over a fortnight that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the Class X and XII Board exam results, the furore over the results refuses to die down. Now, the Odisha Abhibhabak Mahasangha (OAM), a parents' association in Odisha, has approached the Odisha High Court regarding the results. It has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) demanding that CBSE should consider a 50:50 weightage for Terms I and II of the exams.
The CBSE results were declared on July 22, and the Board awarded the marks based on a 30:70 weightage for Term I and Term II respectively. A few students and their parents claimed that Term II was a difficult exam and they had received insufficient time to prepare for it. And thus, the demand for 50:50 weightage consideration. The demands kept circulating on social media even after the results were published.
A delegation from OAM had visited the CBSE regional office at Bhubaneswar soon after the results were published, met the CBSE Chairman there and submitted a memorandum. In the meeting, OAM had given the CBSE a time frame of 15 days to consider the 50:50 weightage for those students who were affected by the marking scheme. The parents' association had sought a separate application window to be opened for those students who were unhappy with their marks and sought a 50:50 weightage scheme to improve them.
"The 15-day notice period has expired and CBSE has been sitting silent over the issue. So we are approaching the High Court to seek justice for all the students and parents across India. The PIL was filed on Monday, August 8, and on August 11, we were assigned the case number 143," said Basudev Bhatta, Chairman, OAM.
"Initially we wanted the students to file a writ petition for their cause. We tried to get together 500 students to sign the petition. Many students and parents had approached us from all over India regarding the matter on social media and had supported our move. But when it came to approaching the court, students backed out. As we could not gather a significant number of students, we decided to file a PIL," he added.
Involvement in Court proceedings
Roshan Kumar, General Secretary, Bihar AISU (All India Students' Union) agrees, and states, "OAM had approached us for student support. We did all we could and approached many students. We support their move and want CBSE to consider a 50:50 weightage. But students do not want to be involved in court proceedings, so many were unwilling to sign the petition. Even most of the parents were reluctant."
"The hearing will most probably be next week. We have urged the Chief Justice to proceed with this case on an urgent basis," Bhatta said, adding, "The parents and students from across India (from Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Jharkhand) who are in touch with us are hopeful that the court will rule in our favour. If the 50:50 weightage is considered in one state, it will be considered all over India. And we are sure that the decision will favour us. What CBSE has done is illegal. After stating that the 30:70 weightage was fake news on April 5, they followed the same marking scheme."
CBSE had indeed issued a notice on April 5 claiming that a piece of fake news was circulating on social media that a 30:70 weightage would be considered for Term I and Term II respectively. However, when the results were declared, an official press release from CBSE mentioned that this 30:70 marking scheme was actually followed.
The All India JEE NEET Students Association (AIJNSA) is also planning to approach the CBSE Head Office in Delhi regarding this matter. "Tomorrow our team with some students & parents will visit CBSE Head Quarter for submitting representation to authorities. Also we will visit Education Ministry & PMO. Other parents from Delhi can join us too. #CBSEstudentsWantJustice," read a tweet from the official AIJNSA page (@AIJNSA_official).
