-Dipta Joshi

The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a writ petition seeking cancellation of physical exams for class X and XII across all examination boards – CBSE, CISCE, NIOS and other state boards.

Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana who accepted the request for urgent listing of the writ petition filed by Anubha Shrivastava Sahai, advocate and president, India Wide Parents Association said the matter would be heard by the bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar. Justice Khanwilkar who had heard petitions related to the board exams in 2021 too will hear the petition on Tuesday (February 22).

CBSE which has already conducted term one exams last year (December 2021) will hold its second term exams April 26 onwards. The ICSE council is expected to conduct both class X and class XII exams in the last week of April. Most state boards meanwhile are expected to hold exams February – March onwards. Students want education boards to adopt an alternate mode of assessment instead of the forthcoming offline exams.

With most schools and junior colleges across the country remaining shut during the academic year 2021-22 due to the second and third wave of the COVID pandemic, the petitioners have complained that a large section of schools were unable to provide online classes. Even educational institutions that were able to provide online classes have not completed the required syllabus. Students say the lack of writing practice will result in poor scores while attempting physical exams.

Last year all educational boards had evaluated students on the basis of their internal exams and a specially devised formula by the board. The students want a similar formula to be worked out this year too. The petition also seeks conducting an improvement exam for those who are not satisfied with their internal assessment.

The plea states, state boards have failed to take timely decisions regarding examination and declaration of final results impacting crores of class X and class XII students. With only a few state boards having announced the examination timetable and most others still holding discussions on the matter, the writ plea states, “The students are dissatisfied by this kind of behaviour of the state boards and other boards and are stressed and worried about their future and their career,”

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