Mumbai: The Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) on Monday informed the Bombay High Court that it would not be forcing any student to sit for the Class 10 and 12 board exams – ICSE and ISC, respectively, scheduled to take place in July. The apex body further informed the High Court that it has decided to allow students to either opt for physical appearance to take the exams, or to accept final results based on internal assessment.
Having heard the decision, a bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Sambhaji Shinde held it to be "fair and reasonable", and has asked the board to forward it to schools so that parents could be made aware of the proposal. Appearing for the CISCE, senior counsel Darius Khambata told the bench that the board won't be insisting on physical appearance of students. "We have decided not to force students to sit for the exams. They could opt either to physically appear for the exams or they have a choice not to write it," he submitted.
"If the students choose not to sit in the exams, then their final results would be declared on the basis of their past performance or the internal assessment," Khambata added. The judges, noted the submissions, stating, "The decision encapsulates several options for the examinees of the 2020 Class X as well as Class XII examinations. Apart from physical appearance to write the examinations, the decision also gives an option to an examinee, who is not willing to write the examination physically, to have his result completed on the basis of marks obtained by him at the preboard exams or the internal assessment."
"This decision, prima facie, appears to us to be fair and reasonable. However, we wish not to close the matter here. Thus, we request CISCE to forward the decision to all the Principals of schools with an instruction to share it with the parents of the students on the rolls of such schools," CJ Datta ordered. The bench further ordered the authorities to publish the decision in Marathi, English and Hindi dailies, giving a gist of the decision.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government too has agreed to the decision with Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni terming it as "just and fair." The judges were dealing with a PIL filed by one Arvind Tiwari, father of a Class 10 student challenging the rescheduling of the exams in July. He urged the court to issue directives to the education authorities to consider declaring results on the basis of past performance of a student and the average marks obtained in the board exams, which they appeared for before the lockdown was declared.
Further, a few students intervened in the matter seeking to give certain suggestions, such as canceling the exams. The CISCE refused to agree to these suggestions. However, the judges said though it isn't necessary to accept the suggestions, the authorities could consider them, if they deem fit. The matter is likely to come up for hearing next on Wednesday
