The Delhi High Court today issued notice to the CBSE, Centre and the Delhi Government on a plea seeking modification in policy for the tabulation of marks for class 10th board exams 2021 based on the internal assessment conducted by the school, as the same is in violation of Article 21 and 21A of the Constitution and other Acts.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice on the petition filed by Justice For All, an organization of lawyers and social activists dedicated to the cause of common man and particularly to the rights of children relating to education and health.
The plea filed in the public interest highlighted the failure of respondent CBSE to ensure the protection of fundamental right to the students appearing in class 10th Board examination in year 2020-21, under provisions of Articles 19(1)(a), 21 and 21A of the Constitution, thereby seeking the modification in policy for tabulation of marks for class X board exams 2021 based on internal assessment conducted by the school dated May 1, 2021, also Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) dated May 24, 2021 have been published by the Board for the clarification of the impugned policy.
It is submitted by the Petitioner that because of COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020, and the nationwide lockdown imposed since March 22, 2020, the students couldn’t attend the schools physically, whereas managed to learn alternately through the online classes conducted by the schools.
In many schools, the online classes were not been managed efficiently, also the students, parents and teachers continue to be under stress of teaching and learning through a new unfamiliar mode of teaching-learning. The second wave of the COVID-19, the cases in various states have been multiplied and many have lost their lives, whereas the students appearing in the class 10th and 12thboard in 2021, remained under stress of appearing in the board exams. As the lives of students and their families could not be put to risk, thereby the CBSE Board decided to cancel the offline exams of class 10th and devised a mechanism of tabulation of marks of the students of class 10th by the schools based on the internal assessment examinations , alleged the Petitioner.
At present, a large group of parents throughout the nation have been fighting against the commercialisation of education by the private schools, by opposing the unreasonably high fees charged from parents in the name of quality education.
The Board exams in classes Xth and XIIth stuck down the domination, monopoly, high-handedness, imperiousness, favoritism, nepotism by the private school management, whereas unfortunately, because of surge in COVID-19 cases, the physical/offline examinations for class Xth Board has been cancelled, which has been a big psychological as well as physical relief for a large n umberof students in the stressful time of pandemic, the petition said.
The petitioner further submitted that the parents have the apprehension that the policy devised by the board for the evaluation of students of class Xth based on unbiased and realistic academic record, would be misused by the school managements against the wards of the parents, who have been fighting against the commercialisation of education.
Also read: Plea in Delhi HC says internal assessment process for Class X exams unconstitutional
“The policy of moderation of marks devised by the board is absolutely constitutional, in contrast to the fundamental right guaranteed to the students under Article 21A of the Constitution of India, as the performance of a student of the present batch, is being judged and the policy of moderation of marks devised by the board is absolutely constitutional, in contrast to the fundamental right guaranteed to the students under Article 21A of the Constitution of India, as the performance of a student of the present batch, is being judged and calculated by the performance of the previous batch of students, the performance of teachers of the school, also with the performance of the state or district. That the average calculated of the performance in board exams of previous year’s batches cannot in any manner be the reference to judge students of the current academic year. by the performance of the previous batch of students, the performance of teachers of the school, also with the performance of the state or district. That the average calculated of the performance in board exams of previous year’s batches cannot in any manner be the reference to judge students of the current academic year,” the petition read.
Source: ILNS