On Wednesday, 23 February, the Supreme Court will hear a plea against offline Classes 10 and 12 examinations of all boards, including Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Council For The Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), and various state boards.
The petition was brought up on Tuesday, 22 February, before a bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar for urgent listing since state board exams in Madhya Pradesh have already begun.
The petition, filed by child rights activist Anubha Shrivastava Sahai, asked for directions to the boards conducting Classes 10 and 12 board exams to pass a notification regarding an alternate mode of examination instead of offline examinations.
On Tuesday evening, Twitter blew up with tweets and memes by students against conducting offline exams, while the hashtag #ModiJiHelpBoardStudents2022 was among the top trends on Twitter.
What Are the Student's Concerns?
Students of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) are gearing up for the final-term examinations to take place in April, despite not having given offline exams in almost two years.
Meanwhile, adding to the students' anxiety, first-term results of CBSE Class X and Class XII are likely to be announced soon. CISCE, on the other hand, has already released the results of first-term exams.
Concerns revolve around the fact that online classes have left students unprepared for offline examinations.
The petition, apart from asking for a notification regarding an alternate mode of assessment, has also sought constitution of a committee for deciding the formula of assessment of students including compartment students and declaring their results within a time limit, LiveLaw reported.
The petition states:
“This is regarding Class 10 and 12 board examinations. Physical examination should not be held due to the pandemic. In most of the States during the lockdown period of June – December 2020, no classes were provided to students. Almost 98 percent of colleges/schools of all the states had not conducted any online class for students in that period.”
Directions have also been sought for the University Grants Commission (UGC) to constitute a committee to declare the date for admission into various Universities and a formula for assessment of Class XII students who want to pursue their studies in non-professional courses by conducting an aptitude test or some other mode of assessment within a time limit and deadline, LiveLaw reported.
Some parents also took to Twitter and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cancel board examinations. Many asked for internal examinations instead of offline examinations.
(With inputs from LiveLaw)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)