Will decide by Wednesday whether to do away with remaining Classes 10, 12 exams, CBSE tells SC

SC defers hearing on petitions seeking scrapping of remaining exams to June 25

 

New Delhi(Agencies): The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it will decide by Wednesday evening whether the remaining examinations for Class 10 and Class 12 should be done away given the situation created by COVID-19 pandemic.

The process of deciding on the issue was at an advance stage and it would be finalised by Wednesday evening, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing CBSE, told a Bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar.

 “We understand the anxiety of students...By tomorrow evening it will be finalised and we can inform the court a day after tomorrow,” Mehta said requesting the Bench to adjourn the hearing till then.

The Bench—which also included Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Sanjiv Khanna—posted the matter for hearing to June 25.

Worried about community spread of COVID-19, four parents of Class 12 students have moved the Supreme Court against the Central Board of Secondary Education’s decision to hold examinations of remaining papers between July 1 and 15.

Petitioners’ counsel Rishi Malhotra wanted the court to take up the matter as soon as possible.

While hearing another petition relating to students under the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), the Bench said it can follow the CBSE’s decision with certain changes.

The Supreme Court had on June 17 asked CBSE to consider doing away with the remaining examinations for Class 10 and Class 12 given COVID-19 pandemic.

It had asked CBSE to inform it by June 23 if marks could be allotted to students for the remaining papers based on internal assessment.

CBSE counsel had said the Board was in the process of deciding on the issue.

Petitioners Col. Amit Bathla, Poonam Singla, Charu Singh and Sunitha—whose children happen to be Class 12 students—have challenged the May 18 CBSE notification that announced a fresh schedule for holding examinations.

They have urged the top court to direct CBSE to declare this year’s Class 12 results “on the basis of examination already conducted and to calculate it on an average basis with the internal assessment marks of the remaining subject.”

Highlighting the rise in COVID-19 cases in India, the petitioners said the pandemic would be at its peak in India and it would not be safe for students to assemble at examination centres in large numbers.

They sought to emphasize that Delhi University has cancelled its first year and second-year undergraduate examinations due to COVID-19. Even IITs have cancelled their examinations, including those of final year students, on account of the pandemic, they submitted. Some states have also cancelled all University examinations, they added.

 “Ensuring proper cleanliness and safety standards as prescribed by the concerned Government in COVID-19 situation in those 15,000 exam centres spreading over length and breadth of the country including rural sectors would not only be risking health and life of children but also would be an exercise in futility and an eyewash,” the petition read.