Will board exams be cancelled in 2022? Supreme Court to hear plea tomorrow

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court said today that it would hear the plea seeking a direction to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and other state boards to cancel offline board exams 2022 tomorrow. A bench led by Justice A M Khanwilkar orally observed, “Without completing the course, how can examination be conducted,” after the counsel appearing for the petitioner said that although the COVID-19 situation has improved, classes have not been completed.

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The bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar, granted liberty to the counsel appearing for the petitioner to serve the advance copy of the plea to the standing counsel for concerned respondents, including CBSE. “We will list it tomorrow,” the bench said. The plea, filed by activist Anubha Shrivastava Sahai and others, was mentioned before the apex court for urgent listing.

COVID-19, Alternate mode of assessment

The counsel, appearing for the petitioners, told the bench that the apex court had passed orders in 2020 and 2021 regarding class 10 and 12 board exams and this year also, the same problem is there. “Last year, there was a scheme after your lordship's intervention. This year also, we require some sort of solution otherwise this is going to drag,” he said, adding that this will affect further admissions and the future of students will be in peril.

On Monday, the matter was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana. The counsel had told the CJI-led bench that physical examination should not be conducted due to the pandemic. The bench had said that the matter would be listed before a bench headed by Justice Khanwilkar.

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The petition also sought an alternate mode of assessment. Last year, CBSE had cancelled board exams for 10th, 12th due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation. The board declared Class 12 results on the basis of alternate evaluation criteria which included 30% weightage to Class 10 marks; 30% to Class 11 marks; and 40% to Class 12 marks. Whereas, CBSE Class 10 students were evaluated on the marks scored in different tests or exams conducted by the school in the course of the year.