SC directs CBSE, CISCE to place on record objective criteria for 12th assessment

The Supreme Court on Thursday said it was happy to note that the government has cancelled the class 12 board exams and directed the CBSE and CICSE to place on record welldefined objective criteria for assessment of students in two weeksA bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari asked Attorney General K K Venugopal and advocate J K Das appearing for the CISCE to place on record the parameters within two weeksldquoWe are happy to note that the government has taken the decision to cancel class 12 board exams but we want that the objective criteria fixed for assessment of marks be placed before usrdquo the bench saidThe bench clarified that it will not give more time for placement of objective criteria as many students will be taking admissions in colleges in India and abroadThe top court said that it will go through the objective parameters for assessment of marks so that if anyone has objections they can be dealt withldquoThis is equally important as the relief sought by the petitioners seeking cancellation of board examsrdquo the bench observedThe bench was hearing a plea seeking directions to cancel the class 12 exams of the Central Board of Secondary Education CBSE and Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination CISCE amid the pandemic situationAt the outset Venugopal said that he has circulated a letter about the decision taken by the government which the bench said it has gone throughVeugopal said that CBSE will require some time to formulate the welldefined objective criteria for assessment of class 12 students and the court may defer the hearing for at least two weeksDas said CISCE wanted 34 weeks for placing the objective criteria as there will be consultation of experts in the processThe bench said ldquoYou CISCE can do it overnight Four weeksrsquo time is a little longer We cannot give you 34 weeksrsquo time You please place it before us in two weeks as students will have to take admissions in colleges Nowadays all communication is happening virtuallyrdquoPetitioner inperson Mamta Sharma said that like CBSE and CISCE there are many state boards which have not taken any decision on class 12 exams She said that there are about 12 crore students in state boards and the court may direct them to take decisionsThe bench told Sharma ldquoYou should have patience and not rush things like this You have only asked for cancellation of board exams by CBSE and now you are saying state boards You are asking for heavens First let CBSE place on record objective criteria and then we will see about other boardsrdquoThe top court then deferred the hearing by two weeksOn June 1 the government has decided to cancel the CBSE Class 12 board exams because of the Covid19 pandemic with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserting that the decision has been taken in the interest of students and that the anxiety among students parents and teachers must be put to an endThe call was taken at a highlevel meeting chaired by Modi in which it was decided that the CBSE will take steps to compile the results of class 12 students as per welldefined objective criteria in a timebound mannerOn May 31 Centre has informed the top court that it will take a final decision within the next two days on whether to conduct class 12 board exams amidst the Covid19 pandemicThe top court had then observed that if the Centre decides to depart from the last yearrsquos policy wherein the remaining board exams were cancelled due to the pandemic then it must give ldquotangible reasonsrdquo for itObserving that the last yearrsquos decision was taken after deliberations the apex court had said ldquoIf you are departing from that policy please give us good reasons so that we can examine itrdquoThe apex court on June 26 2020 had approved the schemes of the CBSE and CISCE for cancellations of remaining board examinations scheduled from July 1 to 15 last year due to the Covid19 pandemic and also approved their formula for assessment of examineesSharmarsquos plea has also sought directions to devise an objective methodology to declare the result of class 12 within a specific time frameThe petition has arrayed the Centre the CBSE and the CISCE as respondents in the matterThe CBSE had on April 14 announced cancellation of class 10 exams and postponement of class 12 exams in view of the surge in coronavirus casesThe plea filed in the apex court has contended that due to the unprecedented health emergency and surge in Covid19 cases in the country it is not possible to conduct the examination and any further delay would cause irreparable loss to the future of studentsldquoIn view of the unprecedented health emergency and rising number of Covid19 cases in the country the conduct of examination either offlineonlineblended in upcoming weeks is not possible and delay in examination will cause irreparable loss to the students as time is the essence in taking admission in higher education courses in foreign universitiesrdquo the plea has saidThis 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