1,152 Compartment/ private students move Supreme Court against CBSE offline exam; seek parity with regular candidates

A plea was filed before the Supreme Court by class 12 private and compartment students against CBSE decision to hold offline examinations for them amid the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic. .The plea by the three students filed through advocate Manju Jetley stated that CBSE's decision amounts to unequal treatment to private/ patrachar/ 2nd chance compartment candidates of Class 10 and 12 since board exams for regular students have been cancelled by CBSE. By forcing private/ patrachar/ 2nd chance Compartment candidates to appeal for online examinations, the CBSE is putting their lives at risk, it was contended. .The plea was filed as an intervention application in a petition already pending before the Supreme Court seeking scrapping of class 12 examinations for CBSE. Interestingly, the plea though filed by three candidates said that it has support of a further 1,149 students and also listed out the names of those students. .The application stated that in view of the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic situation in the country, it is not advisable to conduct physical mode examination for the private/ patrachar/ 2nd chance Compartment candidates, as it would endanger their life and would expose them to an environment that may not be safe.The plea contended that the CBSE decision was prima facie arbitrary and violative of Article 14. .In this regard, two CBSE notifications were highlighted by the petitioners: Clause 29 of the Class XII Policy relates to the policy for Private / Patrachar / 2nd chance Compartment etc., It reads – “For Private / Patrachar / 2nd chance Compartment candidates etc., Examination will be conducted by the board as and when the conditions become conducive for conduct of such examinations. The details will be notified in due course.”Clause 31 of the Class X Policy relates to the policy for Private / Patrachar / 2nd chance Compartment etc., It reads – “For Private / Patrachar / 2nd chance Compartment candidates, a separate scheme for the assessment will be announced soon.”"A bare perusal of above mentioned two provisions would clearly indicate that the CBSE has attempted to give unequal treatment to Private / Patrachar / 2nd chance Compartment candidates of Class X and XII, thereby creating a classification which has no reasonableness, rational and hence, is prima facie, unfair, unjust, arbitrary, and unreasonable and violative of the principles of equality enshrined under Article 14 of the Constitution of India," the application stated. .Pertinently, the plea also pointed out that dates for various entrance tests, like CLAT, NEET etc., have already been notified. Hence, keeping the date of board examinations in abeyance, would take away the equal rights of the Class 12 private/ patrachar/ 2nd chance compartment candidates of the CBSE to compete with other students,equally at such national level entrance tests..The intervention application, therefore, stated that the compartment candidates should be heard before a final decision is taken on the plea relating to CBSE board exams..The CBSE had earlier cancelled examinations for class 10. A petition was later filed for cancellation of class 12 examinations before the Supreme Court.The CBSE then proceeded to cancel class 12 examinations as well and it also placed a scheme before the top court on June 17 for computing marks for class 12 students based on their performance in classes 10, 11 and 12..According to its affidavit, the assessment of theory portion of the marks will be done based on 40 percent weightage to class 12 marks, 30 percent for class 11 and 30 percent for class 10.The class 12 component will be based on the marks secured in Unit Test/Mid-Term/Pre-Board Exam.Computation of class 11 theory marks shall be on the basis of year end final theory exam in respective subjects.Computation of class 10 theory marks shall be based on average theory marks obtained by the student in best three performing subjects out of main 5 subjects. This average will be uniformly awarded to all the class 12 subjects based on theory weightage.Plea on CBSE, ICSE assessment for Class 12 students; Petition to cancel State Board exams: LIVE UPDATES from Supreme Court .The marks or practical/ internal assessment of class 12 will be on the actual basis as uploaded by the school on CBSE portal.Further, students who are not satisfied with the assessment, done based on the policy will be given an opportunity to appear in examinations to be conducted by the board when conditions are conducive for holding the examinations. As per this policy, marks scored in later examination will be considered as finalThe counsel for CBSE also told the top court that results will be declared by July 31..The Supreme Court is slated to hear the matter on Monday.

1,152 Compartment/ private students move Supreme Court against CBSE offline exam; seek parity with regular candidates

Debayan Roy

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