A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to permit as many as 34 class X students of Arooja's Little Star School, Thoppumpady in Kochi to write the remaining CBSE examinations provisionally.
A Bench comprising Justice A.M. Shaffique and Justice V.G. Arun, while issuing the interim order, observed that the declaration of their results would be subject to further orders of the court.
The court also permitted four Class X students of Al-Azhar Public school, Palluruthi, to write the ongoing Board examinations. The next examinations would be held on March 4, 12 and 18.
TocH Public School, Vyttila, Kochi, has been allotted as an exam centre for Arooja’s School students while the four students of Al-Azhar School can write their examinations at Bhavan’s Adarsh Vidyalaya, Kakkanad.
The interim order was issued on an appeal filed by the students of Arooja’s Little Star School, challenging a single judge’s order declining the students’ plea to allow them to write the remaining CBSE exams which began on February 24.
Students’ plea
When the petition came up for hearing, T.Sanjay, Counsel for the students argued that the single judge should have taken into consideration the urgency of the matter and allowed the pleas of the students. In fact, the delay in allowing their pleas would jeopardise their future as the examinations had already begun.
The single judge’s repeated directives to the CBSE to file affidavit one after another did not address the issues faced by the students.
The petitioners said that the students and their parents were kept in the dark by the school management till the very last minute about the affiliation. The students should not lose one year for the failure of the authorities in inspecting the school functioning.
The CBSE counsel submitted that the school was functioning without the recognition of the State government. In fact, several CBSE schools were functioning without complying with the norms prescribed by the board.
The court orally observed that if it was found that the Arooja’s School was functioning without the norms prescribed by the CBSE, the decision of the court would not be in favour of the students.