Live Mint: New Delhi: Tuesday, August 01, 2017.
The Delhi
High Court on Monday termed as “unfair and irresponsible” the Central Board of
Secondary Education (CBSE)’s decision to scrap its ‘moderation policy’ under
which grace marks are given to students in exams for difficult questions and
asked why it cannot be implemented from next year.
The CBSE’s
decision, which would come into effect from this year, “would have a drastic
effect on the students,” a bench of acting chief justice Gita Mittal and
justice Pratibha M. Singh said. It also asked the CBSE why it cannot implement
the change in policy from next year as the results of the 2016-17 exams are
expected to be announced in a few days.
It asked the
CBSE to tell it by Tuesday when it would hear a PIL that has contended that the
policy should not be done away with this year, as decided by some states, since
it would affect the students of Class 12 who have applied for admissions
abroad.
The petition,
moved by a parent and a lawyer, has said that the policy was changed by way of
a notification after the exams for the year were held and hence would have a
drastic impact on the students. The petitioners, Rakesh Kumar and advocate
Ashish Verma, have said that the notification is not yet available on the
CBSE’s website.
Senior
advocate Balbir Singh, appearing for the petitioners, said as a result of the
change in policy, Class 12 students may not meet the cut-off of the Delhi University
as there could be a decrease in marks by at least 15% due to CBSE’s decision.
The plea,
filed through advocates Rimali Batra and Ashish Verma, contended that states
like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, have decided to
implement the policy change from next year and hence the students from these
states would fare better than those from Delhi and other states.
It also
contended that CBSE students would also end up scoring less than the state
board students. During the brief hearing, the court was told by additional
solicitor general Sanjay Jain that while the Board had written to the Delhi
University to give some relaxation to CBSE students, the varsity has refused to
do so.
The petition
has sought the setting aside of the policy change on the ground that the
decision was taken without ensuring a national-level consensus between various
State Boards, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination and other
education boards which conducted Class 10th and 12th exams this yearThe plea has
also contended that the decision denies a level-playing field to CBSE students,
as compared to those of other State Boards and entities, in matters of college
admissions and grant of streams, among others.
(Copy of Judgement)
(Copy of Judgement)