'No to offline exams': Now, plea in SC seeks relief for state board students amidst pandemic
After CBSE and CISCE, students associated with various state boards moved Supreme Court on Tuesday against holding of offline examinations. Students belonging to 23 states, 2 union territories and three countries petitioned the top court to seek relief for state board, NIOS, CBSE and CISCE exams in the country.
The plea, filed by Anubha Shrivastava Sahai, the chief of the India Wide Parents' Association, has sought directions against conduction of offline examinations. It also pressed for a possible formula for assessment and declaration of result. The petition sought a direction to the University Grants Commission (UGC) to devise a formula for the assessment of students for seeking admission to non professional courses within a time frame.
"We have moved SC to seek relief for state board students, NIOS and Compartment students and have a uniform decision. We have sought directions to UGC for a formula for admission to Universities for non professional courses," Anubha Shrivastava Sahai told India TV.
The students who have petitioned the apex court are from Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttarakhand. Besides, many students belong to Chandigarh and Delhi, apart from Kuwait, Dubai and Nepal.
THE PLEA
1. Direct respondents to pass a notification regarding cancellation of Class 12 exams of state boards i.e. HSC and NIOS in physical mode, and further direction to either constitute committee to decide the formula of assessment of students including compartment students; and declare the result within a time limit and deadline or to adopt the directions of the court.
2. Also issue directions to UGC to constitute a committee of Class 12 students who want to pursue their further studies in non professional courses by conducting an aptitude test or some other mode of assessment within a time limit and deadline.
3. Pass other such or further orders as to this court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances o the case.
SC HEARING PLEA ON CBSE, ICSE EXAMS
The top court is already 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 situation. The government had on Monday informed the court that it will take a final decision within the next two days on whether to conduct class 12 board exams amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Attorney General K K Venugopal told this to a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari which said if the Centre decides to depart from the last year’s policy, wherein the remaining board exams were cancelled due to the pandemic, then it must give “tangible reasons” for it.
