Supreme Court Refuses To Stop Offline Exams For Class 10, 12 Across India: No Online Exams Allowed For Students Now

On Wednesday, 23rd February, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking cancellation of offline exams for classes 10 and 12 conducted by state boards, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), and National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS).

The Supreme Court said that these kinds of petitions were misleading, and give false hope to students.

The petition was heard by a bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar who had overseen the conduct of exams based on the CBSE’s 30:30:40 alternative evaluation criteria last year.

“Such petitions give false hopes to students. Entertaining such petitions is only increasing confusion in the system. What kind of petitions are being filed? Let authorities take a decision. You can challenge that order.” said Justice Khanwilkar

The Plea

The petition was filed by a child rights activist Anubha Shrivastava Sahai. She had asked for directions about the boards conducting classes 10th and 12th board exams to pass a notification regarding an alternate mode of exam instead of offline exams.

The plea stated that students from different boards had approached the petitioner saying that they were facing issues with board examinations.

Students’ Concerns

Students belonging to CBSE and Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) are getting ready to give the final-term examinations, which are supposed to be held in April. However, students have not taken offline exams in almost two years.

The students’ anxiety is also at a high right now because the first-term results of CBSE class 10 and class 12 exams will be announced soon. The CISCE has already released the results of the first-term exams.

The parents and students’ concerns revolve around the fact that the online classes have left students completely unprepared for offline examinations.

The petition, apart from seeking a notification regarding an alternate mode of assessment, has also asked for the constitution of a committee for deciding the formula of assessment of students, which includes compartment students, and declaring the final results within a preset time limit.

Soon after the plea was dismissed, disappointed students have started raising their voice on Twitter. They have talked about how ‘helpless’ and ‘underprepared’ they are for the boards this year.

Last year, almost all state boards had cancelled examinations due to the second COVID-19 wave. They had  followed alternate methods of evaluation such as relying on the internal assessment marks.

Source-https://www.thequint.com/amp/story/news/education/supreme-court-dismisses-plea-seeking-cancellation-of-offline-board-exams-for-class-10-and-12?utm_campaign=fullarticle&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=inshorts