When will the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declare Class 12 board exam results – and when will the new academic year commence? These were among the questions raised by the Supreme Court bench on Tuesday, 25 June, to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for India’s largest board and the Centre.
Although an official notice clarifying the date of declaration of results will be drafted by the CBSE and announced on Friday, 26 June, the Class 12 board exam results are likely to be released no sooner than mid-August.
What Happened in the SC?
Both Class 10 and Class 12 exams stand cancelled from 1 July. However, although Class 10 exams won’t take place at all, Class 12 exams have been deemed “optional”. The students can opt to be graded on internal assessment or they can appear for the pending board exams which will be held when the station is conducive.
After the Solicitor General told the court that pending Class 10 and 12 board exams from 1 July stand cancelled due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the country, and that Class 12 students have the option to choose how to be assessed, the question of results and the new academic year was raised.
“The academic year should ideally begin in September if pending board exams are to be held in August,” the Supreme Court said.
However, advocate Rishi Malhotra for the petitioners appealed for the results to be “declared as soon as possible, preferably within this month.”
Following that, the bench decided that the education board should offer a detailed clarification on the subject on Friday, 26 June.
The hearings at the apex court are based on a petition filed by the parents of CBSE students, who have said conducting board exams in this pandemic situation would only expose students to the threat of coronavirus.
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