SC rejects pleas challenging CBSE, CISCE Class 12 exam tabulation scheme

CBSE, CISCE Class 12 exam tabulation scheme: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed petitions challenging the Tabulation Policy of the Central Board of Secondary Education and the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) as it held the two schemes to be fair, reasonable and in the larger interest of students.

The Court also dismissed separate challenge by students seeking cancellation of the examinations to be conducted for private or compartment students of CBSE.

Another plea by UP Parents Association demanding that the choice of giving optional exam should be provided at the outset was also rejected by the Court. It felt that doing so will restrict the choice of students. Under the scheme they will still be able to give the improvement exam if they feel dissatisfied by their scores as per assessment scheme of CBSE, ICSE.

The bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari while dismissing the petitions against the schemes said, “We find no reason to interfere with the CBSE, CISCE schemes. We find it fair and reasonable, takes care of all sets of students and is in the larger public interest.”

Further, the Court noted, “We do not want to create uncertainty for students” whose careers will be held up in the event they are unable to give the optional examination. The CBSE plans to conduct the optional exam between August 15-September 15 and CISCE before September 1, subject to COVID-19 situation easing out.

The Association wanted a specific date by which the results of the improvement exam could be announced. Attorney General KK Venugopal appearing for the Centre said, “The UGC will give instructions to all colleges and professional institutes not to begin admissions till results (of optional exams that may be conducted) are declared.”

One petition filed by a teacher Anshul Gupta argued that if students can appear in professional exams such as NEET, CLAT why should they not be allowed to give Class 12 exams physically.

The bench said that Boards are autonomous bodies which can independently take decisions. So far as the schemes prepared by CBSE and ICSE were concerned, the bench observed that the same was prepared by expert committees of 13 members and 9 members respectively.

“It is not possible for us to adopt a second-guess approach,” the bench said, noting that in such matters one could not go by individual perceptions when it involves lives of 20 lakh students. Moreover, CBSE exam is a qualifying and not competitive exam, the bench said, adding that by reversing the decision of Boards to cancel the exams will affect the psyche of students who will face uncertainty about their career.

The Court also rejected an application filed by three private/compartment candidates who claiming support of 1149 similarly placed candidates sought cancellation of the CBSE scheme requiring them to take examination between August 15 and September 15.

The Court also ruled out apprehensions of manipulation of marks by schools under the CBSE assessment scheme. The AG submitted that for this reason, Results Committee in each school will have two senior teachers from neighbouring schools. In addition, he said schools will moderate marks based on their best performance in last three years. According to Centre, marks of Class 10, 11 and 12 internal assessment are recorded in registers. Possibility of manipulation will arise if schools commit forgery.

The Court went by the submission of Centre but hinted that some mechanism to cross-check should be available as the marks of Class 12 unit tests, mid-term and Pre-Boards are not uploaded with CBSE.