Parents Move Supreme Court Against CBSE Board Exams in July

The petition demands that CBSE should evaluate students on the basis of internal assessment for pending exams.

(Photo: AP/Mahesh Kumar A)

A petition filed in the Supreme Court has asked for a stay on the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) decision to conduct the pending board examination in July on the grounds that it may expose scores of students to the novel coronavirus.

The petition, filed by parents of a student who has appeared for CBSE Class 12 examinations this year, demands that the pending CBSE exams be scrapped and students be marked on the basis of internal assessment for papers that have so far not been conducted.

According to the petition, conducting board exams in the month of July may endanger thousands of students, as the number of coronavirus cases are expected to peak during that period.

The petition also mentions that since the number of exam centres have been increased from 3,000 to 15,000, ensuring safety measures at every such centre would be an exercise in “futility and an eyewash.” 

Further, the petition mentions that since a large number of the infected population could be asymptotic, students could become carriers of the virus themselves, and thereby infect other students, and in turn, their family members.

It also alleges ‘discrimination’ and display of ‘arbitrariness’ by the CBSE, as several other boards and colleges across the country have cancelled their respective examinations. It also points out that the board has cancelled pending exams for schools in foreign in countries that are affiliated to it.