SC order on CBSE Exams: Court approves scheme on cancellation of Class 10 and 12 exams, reassessment formula; results by 15 July, board says

The Supreme Court on Friday approved the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) draft notification to cancel the pending Class 10 and Class 12 exams and gave a go-ahead to its scheme to award marks to students for the cancelled papers scheduled to be held in July. This, after Exam Controller Sanyam Bhardwaj, told the apex court that CBSE Class 10 and 12 results would be declared by 15 July. CBSE’s assessment scheme will consider marks achieved by the students in the last three papers of board exams and students may take admission on the basis of this result, Bhardwaj further told the court. If Class 12 students appear for optional exams, marks obtained will be treated as the final score, Bharadwaj said. A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna permitted the CBSE to issue a notification for the cancellation of the examinations. The top court was hearing pleas seeking relief, including the scrapping of remaining exams of Class 12 scheduled from July 1 to 15, in view of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases. Similar relief was sought by the ICSE Board also. The ICSE board for Class 10 examinations informed the Supreme Court that it will pursue the scheme framed by the CBSE but will follow a slightly different assessment scheme for awarding marks to students. The board further said that the notification will be sent to the apex court in a week. The ICSE board also told the top court the results of Class 10 and 12 board exams can be declared by middle of July. The apex court gave the ICSE a week to notify with slight changes on optional exams for Class 10. “We accept the notification issued by CBSE. Any other petition considering the subject of conducting exams for Class X and XII by CBSE scheduled for July 1 to July 15, 2020, stands disposed of by this order. ICSE in principle will issue similar notification,” ordered the apex court. The Supreme Court then wrapped up the matter, saying similar matters in high courts too will be disposed of in terms of this order. With inputs from PTI