CBSE tells Delhi HC that the decision to not conduct Class X Maths re-exam was based on a trend analysis

New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Friday informed the Delhi High Court that the decision not to conduct a re-examination of the Class X mathematics paper, which was allegedly leaked, was taken after doing a trend analysis of science, Mathematics and English papers. [caption id=“attachment_4367735” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] CBSE logo. Image courtesy: cbse.nic.in[/caption] The CBSE said it was a considered decision and they cannot put lakhs of students in difficulty just for one student who wanted a re-test of maths. A bench of Justices Gita Mittal and C Hari Shankar posed several questions to the counsel for the student, who has been seeking re-conduct of the exam. The court asked the counsel for the student as to what was the difficulty and anxiety about the maths exam and why he was insisting on a fresh exam. “How you client (student) is affected with the decision of not conducting a re-test. When you are asking for such a radical relief, you have to see it in an overall perspective. They have done a trend analysis of not only Maths paper but also Science and English to see there are no spikes of leakage,” the bench said. The court, which listed the matter for further hearing on 23 July, noted that the petition does not utter one word on the prejudice caused to the student and that sometimes advocates must look at larger public interest. During the hearing, the bench said the counsel should call the student in the court as it wanted to know why she was seeking a fresh examination. CBSE’s advocate Amit Bansal placed the records relating to the board’s decision not to conduct a re-examination of Class X Mathematics paper. The court had earlier dismissed a plea seeking rescheduling of the re-examination of the Class XII Economics paper, which the CBSE has decided to conduct on 25 April following an alleged leak. The court had also disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in which an NGO Social Jurist, had sought that CBSE is directed to hold the Class X exam in April, if required, and not in July as it had proposed earlier. NGO’s counsel Ashok Agarwal had said he was satisfied with the board’s decision of not holding the re-examination for the Class X paper. The CBSE, in its affidavit, had earlier said it had decided not to hold re-examination of Class X Maths test as a scientific evaluation of random answer sheets did not indicate any unusual pattern to believe that there was a widespread benefit of the alleged paper leak.