Board Exams – A dilemma

Recently twitter flooded with the hashtag “Cancel board exams”. Twitterati were in favor of cancellation of board exams on account of the ongoing pandemic. Last year, in 2020, the same plea was made before the Supreme Court for cancellation of Board Exams scheduled in July 2020, which were later cancelled as per the Order of the Apex Court. This year, again the two petitions have been filed regarding the same issue. But, the interesting fact is that one PIL has been filed for the cancellation of the exams and declaration of result on the basis of the internal marks of students and another PIL has been filed by a Kerala based teacher that the exams should take place, if not physically then online as the Class 12th exams are career defining and admission to Higher Education Institution i.e. Colleges is dependent upon these exams. The matters are yet to be heard by the Supreme Court. The official notification from the Government is expected to be notified in the month of June that whether the 12th Board exams are going to be held or not and if they will take place, what will be the Exams Schedule or the manner of its conduct.

Most of the states and CBSE have cancelled their Class 10 exams. Regarding the Class 12th exam, CBSE and State boards are coming with different patterns like online MCQ based exam, Physical exam of short duration etc.  Last year, as per the Order of the Supreme Court dated 26.06.20, in the matter of Amit Bathla and Ors. Vs. Central Board of Secondary Education & Anr., the Apex Court permitted the following Assessment Scheme provided by the CBSE:

  1. For the students of both classes-X and XII, who have completed all their examinations, their results will be declared based on their performance in the examinations.
  2. For students who have appeared in the examinations in more than 3 subjects, the average of the marks obtained in best three performing subjects will be awarded in the subjects whose examinations have not been conducted.
  3. For students who have appeared in the examinations in only 3 subjects, the average of the marks obtained in the best two performing subjects will be awarded in the subjects whose examinations have not been conducted.
  4. There are very few students of class-XII, mainly from Delhi, who have appeared in the 4 examinations in only 1 or 2 subjects. Their results will be declared based on performance in the appeared subjects and performance in internal/practical project assessment. These students will also be allowed to appear in the optional examinations conducted by CBSE to improve their performance, if they desire to do so. Result of these students will also be declared along with other students.

However this year, not even a single exam has been held till date. So, if the exams get cancelled, the assessment can only be made through internal exams.

42nd Amendment Act of 1976 made the Education, a subject of the concurrent list in Seventh Schedule of Constitution regarding which both the Centre and State Government can make laws. Prior to this Amendment, the Education was a subject of State list. However, in case of CBSE, the powers are in the hands of the Central Government. The Supreme Court is likely to consider the PIL matters after the decision of Central government and the board as no final decision has been taken so far by them.