Bombay HC refuses to cancel offline exams for Class 12

The Bombay High Court on Saturday refused to quash the decision of the Maharashtra government to hold offline exams for class 12 (HSC). The HC held that the state has consulted experts before deciding to hold offline exams while quashing the decision.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Gangapurwalla and Shivkumar Dige was hearing a plea filed by one Sumit Pawar (18), a resident of Aurangabad.

Pawar said he had been attending classes online and thus, it would be unfair to conduct exams offline claiming that the state’s decision to hold offline exams was in violation of his fundamental right to equality before the law, as provided by the Constitution of India.

Taking note of the facts, the bench in its orders passed on February 26, noted, "Due to Covid-19 pandemic situation, the education sector has faced a heavy setback as the entire

system and process had to be switched to a distant mode i.e. online. Therefore, by taking help of the software like Zoom, Google Meet, Whatsapp etc, the entire education system managed to survive in Covid-19 situation."

"The students are trying to cope up with the modern approach against the traditional approach," the bench noted, adding, "However, there are some defects in the modern approach namely lack of infrastructure i.e. internet access, availability of devices etc."

The judges further took into account the fact that due to vaccination drive, lower death rates and almost no Covid cases being reported, the schools have now been opened partially.

"It is true that due to Covid-19 pandemic, since two years education of all classes is taken in online mode. This education model was adopted in the interest of students and to keep students in the flow of education," the bench said, adding, "When the situation was normal, in some parts of the states, physical classes were held."

Addressing the contention of Pawar that several students have committed suicide due to the declaration of offline exams, the bench said that the newspaper reports indicated that they committed suicide for want of proper infrastructure for online classes.

The bench noted that the state after consulting experts in the field has taken the decision to conduct exams offline and that it has also increased the number of examination centres from 3,036 to 12,561.

"It is directed to adhere to strict Covid protocol at the examination centre. The timespan of each paper has been increased and the syllabus for the examination has also been reduced. All the measures taken by the exam board shows that while deciding on offline mode examination, they have

considered all aspects," the bench noted from the state affidavit.

"Now the situation is normalising and Covid-19 cases are reducing. Due to vaccination and medication, the recovery rate is higher and the death rate is low. There are problems in online mode education in rural areas due to the lack of internet connection and electricity. Poor students could not afford to buy android mobile," the bench observed.

"It is the duty of the state government to see the interest of students who are appearing for the examination. After perusal of record, we find that the state has taken adequate measures

to safeguard the interest of students," the bench said, adding, "Mere fear of one student can not hold the interest of 14,82,198 students who are appearing for class 12 exam at stake, without any reasonable and valid ground."