SC to Hear Plea Seeking Cancellation of Class 10th, 12th Offline Exams

SC to Hear Plea Seeking Cancellation of Class 10th, 12th Offline Exams

SC to Hear Plea Seeking Cancellation of Class 10th, 12th Offline Exams

The plea urged the apex court to issue directions to authorities regarding alternate mode of assessment of students from Class 10, 11 , 12 of CBSE, ICSE, NIOS and state boards instead of offline exams.

The Supreme Court on Monday, February 21, agreed to list for hearing a plea seeking cancellation of offline physical board examinations for classes 10 and 12 to be held by CBSE and other several boards this year. 

A bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli took note of the submissions of a lawyer seeking early listing of the plea saying that the physical examination should not be conducted due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

" This is regarding class 10 and 12 board examinations. Physical examination should not be held due to the pandemic," lawyer Prashant Padmanabhan said. 

" Let the matter go before a bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar," the bench said.

The lawyer mentioned the plea filed by Anubha Shrivastava Sahai, an activist, seeking directions to CBSE and other education boards which have proposed to hold board examinations offline for classes 10 and 12. 

The plea has also sought a direction to education boards for devising alternate modes of assessment. CBSE has decided to conduct term two board exams for class 10 and class 12 from April 26.

Several students, parents and activists raised the issue on Twitter using the hashtag #InternalAssessmentForAll2022. 

Many of them argued that after nearly two years of school closure, students would find it difficult to appear for the board exams with insufficient preparation while also dealing with a learning gap. 

The plea before the Supreme Court said many students studying in CBSE, ICSE, NIOS and state board approached the petitioner, Anubha Shrivastava Sahai, for issues they are facing regarding the board exams and are directly affected by the outcome of this PIL. 

" The other petitioners are students as well as the parents from different states, who were aggrieved by the Boards decision. That, the mental pressure that is created for performance in this exam is so much that every year a number of students commit suicide for fear of under-performance, or of failure", said the plea.

The plea added, "To make the students appear and face examination with the additional fear of getting infected by the Covid-19 virus will not only be unfair but the same will be absolutely inhuman". The petitioners contended that their claim is genuine and it is essential to protect their fundamental rights of education under Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

The plea urged the top court to issue directions to concerned authorities to pass a notification regarding alternate mode of assessment of students from Class 10, 11 , 12 of CBSE, ICSE, NIOS and state boards instead of offline exams.

The plea also prayed the court to pass direction to conduct an improvement exam for those who are not satisfied with internal assessment and further direction to constitute a committee to decide the formula of assessment of students, including compartment students and declare the result within a time limit and deadline.

The second petitioner in the plea is the Student Union of Odisha. The plea has also included a list of students from various parts of the country who approached Sahai regarding issues with the board exams.

With PTI and IANS inputs