SC agrees to take up plea against offline classes 10 and 12 Board exams

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 21

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a petition seeking cancellation of offline physical Board Examinations for classes 10 and 12 conducted by various state boards, CBSE and ICSE.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana took note of the submissions made by advocate Prashant Padmanabhan for early listing of the petition demanding cancellation of physical examination due to Covid-19 situation.

“Let the matter go before the Bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar,” the CJI said.

Highlighting the Covid-19 situation and the difficulties faced by them due to interruptions in schooling, students from several states moved the Supreme Court against holding board exams offline.

The petitioners – who approached the top court through child rights activist Anubha Shrivastava Sahai and Students Union of Odisha – have sought a direction to the University Grants Commission to set up a panel to declare admission dates for various universities and to work out an assessment formula for admission to non-professional courses.

They have demanded an alternative assessment method for the board exams. They urged the top court to direct all boards to declare results on time and give an option for improvement exams on account of problems caused by the pandemic.

The Central Bureau of Secondary Education (CBSE), Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) and various State boards have proposed to hold physical exams for class 10 and class 12.

The CBSE has decided to conduct term two board exams for classes 10 and 12 from April 26 respectively, while ICSE and National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) were yet to notify the dates, the petitioners said. Some state boards have announced the schedule while many others have yet to take a decision.

Maintaining that education is important, they sought to emphasise that the lives and mental health of children, teachers, staff and parents were more important.