After CBSE, ICSE class 12 assessment plan settled, SC takes up state boards issue

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New Delhi, June 17 (IANS) After accepting the CBSE and ICSE formula for Class 12 assessment, the Supreme Court on Thursday sought a response from the state governments which are yet to cancel the board exams.

A bench comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari noted that counsel for the petitioners, in all fairness, informed that out of 28 states, 6 states have already conducted examinations, 18 states have cancelled it, but 4 states (Assam, Punjab, Tripura and Andhra Pradesh) have not cancelled the examination so far.

The bench, in its order, said: "Counsel for the petitioners shall serve the standing counsel for the above-mentioned four states via email/online. In addition, counsel for the petitioners shall serve a copy of this petition on the standing counsel for the state of Kerala as we are informed that the state of Kerala has not cancelled 11th standard examination conducted by the state board."

The top court sought a response from the Assam, Punjab, Tripura and Andhra Pradesh governments and scheduled the matter for further hearing on June 21.

A petition filed by child rights activist Anubha Shrivastava Sahai sought cancellation of all board exams. During the hearing, the top court said it will protect the interest of all class 12 students but those raising issues with state boards need to have some patience, as first it wanted to resolve the issue related to the fixing of objective evaluation criteria for two boards: CBSE and ICSE. On Thursday, after a detailed hearing in the matter, the top court approved the formula devised by the CBSE and the ICSE for the assessments of class 12 students.

Sahai sought the constitution of a committee to decide the formula for assessment of students including compartment students and declare the result within a fixed time.

"By conducting offline exams, the government will be putting the lives of students, teachers and other staff at risk. The government must take a call now for the 12th board like they have done for 1Oth board. International boards have already cancelled 12 board offline exams and are going ahead with internal assessment", argued the plea.

The plea contended that some states cancelled Higher Secondary Certificate Examination (HSC Exam), scheduled earlier for March, but some states have not taken any decision so far in connection with the cancellation of the exam. The petitioner argued that the HSC board is yet to finalize a formula for the assessment of Class 12 students, in the event of cancellation of the exam.

In the same matter, the parents of some Class 11 students from Kerala had also moved an intervention application in the top court seeking directions to cancel the exam scheduled in September.

--IANS

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