Final decision in few days, Centre in Supreme Court on class 12th exam cancellation

By LE Desk

New Delhi, May 31: The Central government today informed the Supreme Court that it will take a decision on the Class 12 board exams in two days.

“Give us time till Thursday and Government will come with a final decision,” Attorney General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told the apex court. 

A Special Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari was hearing a petition by advocate Mamta Sharma seeking scrapping of exams in the present COVID-19 situation.

“You are free to take whatever decision. But there is hope expressed by Petitioner that policy adopted last year can be adopted this year,” said the Bench. “If Government is departing from last year decision then give tangible reasons,” it said, as reported by NDTV.

The Supreme Court will resume hearing on the case on June 3.

The plea was filed on behalf of students who will be appearing in the Class 12 examination. The plea sought directions to the Centre, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) to cancel the CBSE and ICSE Class 12 exams and declare the results on the basis of “objective methodology” within a specified timeframe.

Raising concern over the safety of lakhs of students, the plea said that they might be exposed to coronavirus infection if they have to appear in the examinations amid the raging COVId-19 pandemic.

The board exams, which are usually conducted in February-March every year were originally slated to begin on May 4. The board had on April 14 announced the cancellation of Class 10 final exams and postponed Class 12 exams in view of a surge in COVID-19 cases. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On May 24, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ met a group of Union and state ministers to discuss holding the CBSE Class 12 exams. At the meeting, the CBSE proposed two options for evaluation — both involved offline pen-and-paper exams in schools.

https://www.ndtv.com/education/cbse-class-12-board-exams-2021-cancellation-cisce-isc-final-decision-centre-supreme-court-latest-news-today