The plea seeking cancellation of physical Board exams for Classes X and XII will be heard by the Supreme Court tomorrow, February 23. CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) and several other boards are to conduct the exams this year.
How can examinations be held if the course is still not completed yet, orally observed the bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar. This was after the counsel, appearing for the petitioner, informed that though the COVID-19 situation is looking up, classes are yet to be completed, as stated by a report in PTI.
The bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar, granted the counsel the liberty to serve the plea's advance copy to the standing counsel for concerned respondents, which includes CBSE.
Filed by activist Anubha Shrivastava Sahai and others as well, the plea was mentioned for urgent listing before the apex court. The counsel, appearing for the petitioners, informed the bench that the apex court in the years 2020 and 2021 had passed orders regarding Board exams of Classes X and XII. This year too, the same problem persists.
It was after the court's intervention that a scheme was introduced, in order to ensure that the matter doesn't "drag" on, a solution was required this year too, the counsel said and also informed that this would affect the admissions and the future of students.
When the counsel was asked if the exams have begun, he informed that the exams in Madhya Pradesh have commenced.
Initially, the bench had asked the counsel to serve an advance copy of the plea to the standing counsel for the CBSE. The lawyer said that he would try to serve the advance copy to all respondents, it was then that the bench granted the liberty to serve the standing counsel for the concerned respondents.
It may be recalled that in June last year, the top court had approved the assessment schemes of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), who had adopted the 30:30:40 formula for evaluating the scores for Class XII students based on the results of Class X, XI and XII respectively.
CBSE had stated that they would be evaluating students of Class XII for theory based on 30 per cent marks from Class X Board, 30 per cent from Class XI and the rest of the 40 per cent based on unit, mid-term, and pre-board tests performance in Class XII. In deciding the final results, the central board had also mentioned that the marks the students of Class XII obtained in practical and internal assessment on an actual basis, as uploaded by schools on the CBSE portal, would also be considered.
