‘Students’ safety will remain key priority’

After the Supreme Court decided to finalize the cancellation of the board examinations, Education Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on Friday held an online session where he addressed students about the Class 12 Board examinations. “You have proven to the world that Indian students are behind no one,” he said, likening them to warriors fighting the pandemic. The Minister appeared on Facebook to make a statement on the decision by the Supreme Court. He said that the safety of Indian students has always been important and will continue to remain so, before mentioning that those students who still wished to take the examinations will be given an opportunity once the situation is more conducive. The Prime Minister has been working relentlessly with crores of students for days and has decided to cancel the examinations in a historic decision, “in order to keep students of our country safe”, he said.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to finalize the cancellation of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) board examinations, amidst a slew of protests and questions by students and parents alike. The Supreme Court bench of justices Ajay Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari dismissed petitions on the matter and deemed the idea to cancel examinations as “fair,” “reasonable,” and in the interests of the students.
There were a number of petitions against the decisions made by the Boards, one of which argued that since students were allowed to physically appear for examinations such as NEET, they should also be allowed to appear for class 12 board examinations. Another petition suggested that students be given a choice between appearing for an examinations versus following the alternative route. The court denied both, stating that the safety of students was paramount and if given option, students would not be able to make “intelligent choice”.
The SC has directed all state boards to reveal their alternative marking schemes within 10 days, and to reveal the results of their internal assessments by 31 July. All states had agreed to cancel their class 12 board examinations, except AP which, after being informed that it will be held accountable for any harm caused to any student, has since relented.
CBSE proposed an alternate tabulation formula last week, which is based on the student’s performance over the past three years–in classes 10,11 and 12–in the ratio of 30:30:40, with 40% being based on the student’s performance in class 12 thus far. “This seems unfair, as a lot of students have not performed well in class 10 and class 11, but were very well prepared for their board examinations,” said a student from DPS Vasant Kunj.