No relook at decision to cancel Class 12 exams, says SC; approves CBSE, CISCE assessment schemes

There will be no roll back of the decision to cancel class 12 board exams the Supreme Court said on Thursday and approved the CBSE and CISCE assessment schemes of a 303040 formula for evaluation of marks for students based on results of class 10 11 and 12 respectivelyThe Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination CISCE said however that it would consider the performance of students for last six classes unlike CBSE which is taking note of performance in Class 10 11 and 12 exams in finalising the final board resultsBoth the boards said they would declare the results on or before July 31The Central Board of Secondary Examination CBSE in its assessment scheme referred to components to be evaluated and the weightage in percentage to arrive at final resultsAlso Read CBSE submits Class 12 assessment formula in SC results to be declared by July 31CBSE said it will evaluate class 12 students for theory based on 30 per cent marks from class 10 board 30 per cent from class 11 and 40 per cent from marks based on the performance in unit midterm and preboard testsIt said the marks obtained by class 12 students in practical and internal assessment on actual basis as uploaded by schools on CBSE Portal will be also considered in deciding final resultsA special vacation bench of justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari rejected the plea of senior advocate Vikas Singh that there should be a relook of the decisions of CBSE and CISCE to cancel class 12 board exams in view of the fact that tests like Common Law Admission Test CLAT would be conducted in physical mannerldquoWe have no manner of doubt that this cannot be taken forward We have already accepted in principle the decision taken by the Boards and placed before us In any case the students who want to appear can do so for improvisation of marks and that takes care of the students who want to appear In other words no prejudice will be caused to students who want to appearrdquo the bench saidIn the hearing conducted through video conferencing the top court said prima facie it has no reservation to accept the assessment schemes and the boards can proceed on the sameldquoHowever the assessment scheme must incorporate the provisions for dispute resolution in case students want correction of final result declared and the second is for declaration of results and when the timeline for optional exams would be declaredrdquo the bench told Attorney General K K Venugopal appearing for the CBSE and senior advocate J K Das representing CISCEBoth the boards agreed to the suggestions of the bench which has now posted the matter for hearing on Monday when senior lawyer Vikas Singh would advance arguments on assessment schemesldquoWe will have it on Monday You CBSE and CISCE are free to finalise your scheme and notify it If further suggestions are given then we can consider itrdquo the bench ordered adding that the suggestions of Singh may be incorporated laterThe bench was hearing pleas seeking directions to cancel the class 12 exams of the CBSE and CISCE amid the pandemic situationWhile dealing with some interim pleas relating to cancellation of class 12 board exams by various state boards the bench said the copies of the applications be given to the counsel for state governmentsAt the outset Venugopal said ldquoCBSE has been in existence since 1929 and this has never happened before in the history of CBSErdquoHe said the assessment criteria has been devised by a committee of experts and for this purpose the CBSE has decided to consider the performance of students in class 10 11 and 12For class 10 the marks based on the average theory component of the best three performing subjects of the main five subjects would be considered and their weightage would be 30 per cent the law officer saidElaborating further he said the marks obtained in theory paper in class 11 will be considered and given 30 per cent weightageThe marks obtained in unit test midterm and the preboard exams of class 12 would be given 40 per cent weightage in deciding the final results he saidldquoMarks of practicalinternal assessment etc of class 12 will be considered on actual basis as uploaded by the schools on CBSE portalrdquo he said adding that the total marks awarded should be in consonance with the past performance of the schools in class 12 board examsrdquoDuring the hearing the bench said there should be a forum for disputes redressal mechanism in the scheme itself and timelines be given as to when the results would be declared and the optional exams would be conductedldquoThere has to be some outer date Optional examination will also be specified Subject to conducive situations and logistical issuesrdquo the bench said adding that if one lakh students decide to appear in optional exams then it can be managed keeping in mind the Covid19 protocolsldquoWe will certainly do so This is the totality of it We will note down the suggestions and consider them seriouslyrdquo Venugopal saidOn June 3 the bench had said it was happy to note that the government had cancelled the class 12 board exams and had directed the CBSE and CISCE to place on record welldefined objective criteria for assessment of students in two weeksThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever