The Bombay High Court. (File) The Bombay High Court Thursday rapped the state government for its decision to cancel Class X board exams last month amid rising Covid-19 cases.
A division bench of Justice S J Kathawalla and Justice S P Tavade was hearing a PIL challenging the cancellation of exams announced on May 12.
Government counsel PP Kakade told the court that a decision will be taken soon on a formula for admissions in higher education for these students, awaiting suggestions from the State Council of Education, Research and Training (SCERT).
The court asked the state government if the students will be promoted without an examination.
“Are you thinking of promoting them without an examination? God save the education system of this country. This is the only main examination and the last one of their schooling,” the court said.
The bench asked if the suggestions are awaited from SCERT, which had made the decision to cancel the exams, to which Kakade told the High Court that it was a policy decision.
“In the name of pandemic, we cannot spoil the career and future of our children. This is not acceptable. The framer of our educational policy should know this,” the bench said.
The court also questioned why students from Class XII who will be made to undergo an examination were being discriminated against.
Counsels representing CBSE and ICSE said they had cancelled Class X exams and come up with internal assessment as they have exams till Class IX. The petitioner’s lawyer, Uday Warunjikar, said that in SSC, there were no exams till Class VIII and the whole batch would go without any exams if these were cancelled, too.
The court has directed the parties to submit on Monday notes on their submissions made on Thursday.
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