New Delhi, 21 February 2022 – The Supreme Court (SC) has agreed to listen to the pleas of students regarding the cancellation of offline exams for class 10th and 12th today. A petition was filed by students of 15 states in the apex court demanding the cancellation of board exams in physical mode which are scheduled to be conducted by all State Boards, CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education), ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education), and NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling). The plea has been filed by child rights activist Anubha Shrivastava Sahai and the Students Union of Odisha.
The Chief Justice of India NV Ramana accepted the plea made for the urgent listing of the writ petition, saying, “the matter will now be heard before the bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar.”
Cancellation Plea for Board Exams 2022 – Student’s Demands
In the filed petition to the apex court, students have pointed out their demands, which are mentioned below:
- Cancellation of board exams 2022
- Adoption of an alternate mode of assessment for classes 10 and 12 from all boards (CISCE, CBSE, MPBSE, BSEB and others)
- Relief for conducting an improvement exam for those students who are not satisfied with internal assessment
- Request to form a committee to decide the assessment formula for Class 10, 12 students including compartment exams and declaration of result on time
Protest in Haryana Against Board Exams for Classes 5 and 8
While some of the state boards like Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh have released the board exams schedules, others are still discussing the way forward. In Haryana, parents of numerous school students had staged a protest on Sunday, 20th February 2022 against the proposal of the Haryana Government to hold board exams for Classes 5 and 8 in April 2022.
During the protest, the parents raised their concern that after 650 days of school closure, it will be difficult for the students to sit for the offline exams. The children are already struggling to overcome learning gaps due to little to no digital access and hybrid learning methods.
Cancellation Plea for Board Exams 2022 – Protests Via Digital Medium
The CBSE board exams 2022 are all set to begin from 30th November 2022 for Class 10 students and from 1st December 2022 for Class 12 students.
The petition highlighted the same with the statement, “The students are dissatisfied by this kind of behavior of the State government and other boards and stressed and worried about their future and career.”
The petition further stated, “Students from all states are worried about the conduction of 10th and 12th board examinations amid the growth of COVID-19 cases. Though the numbers are less, not all students have received vaccination nor the pandemic has been completely eradicated. Due to this, there is a high chance of a 3rd wave, which will adversely affect the students.”
The plea also claimed that the proposed current system of offline examination is full of bad planning and lack of application of mind which will further adversely harm the students.
Here are a few statements that students and their parents have shared against the offline board exams via their Twitter handles:
It is ludicrous that the board is keeping offline exams after 18 months of online school. Offline exams can only be viable after months of proper classroom schooling. #cbseterm1 #cbseterm1online #CBSEandICSEgoonline
Pls support @ActivistSukhpal— AxoClan (@AxoClan1) November 11, 2021
Whatz the purpose of mandatory consent for offline exams without an alternative choice for online exams. @cbseindia29 @MoHFW_INDIA @PMOIndia #OnlineExamForCBSEandICSE #cbseterm1online
— Adv Sumanth Nookala (@Adv_NSReddy) November 9, 2021
I am from Assam in our state many of schools and colleges has declared as containtment zone due to the rise of Covid cases..in this kind of situation how can we go for the offline mode of exams?#OnlineExamsForCBSEandICSE #cbseterm1online #MakeTerm1Hybrid #CBSE @cbseindia29
— Anubhav (@Red7Anu) November 11, 2021