New Delhi, 3 June 2021 – Delhi High Court had issued a notice to the Centre, the Delhi Government, and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on a plea seeking modification in the marks tabulation policy for Class 10th board exams 2021.
The petition was filed by an organization named ‘Justice for All’ which says that the modification in policy for the tabulation of marks for Class 10 board exams (as per the internal assessments held by the schools) is in violation of the Article 21 and 21 A of the Constitution of India and other acts.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh has asked all the three authorities to file a reply on the plea; further hearing on the matter shall be conducted on 27 August 2021.
Note: This notice to the Centre, Delhi Government, and CBSE was issued by the Delhi High Court on Wednesday, 2nd June 2021, regarding the publicized idea of using internal assessment marks to calculate the Class 10 results. This policy was formed after scrapping the moderation policy of marks based on the assessment marks of Class 10 students of the current year with the previous year’s performance of the school, districts, and states.
CBSE Class 10 Marks Tabulation Policy 2021 – What modifications are the petitioners asking for?
- As per the petition filed by the organization, Justice for All, the parents have the apprehension that the policy devised by the board for the evaluation of students of Class 10 is based on unbiased and realistic academic record and that it would be misused by the school managements against the wards of the parents who have been fighting against the commercialization of education.
- The petition states – “The contemplated policy by the board to access the performance is framed in such manner where the CBSE accessing the performance of school for last three year not the performance of the individual students and then links it with the performance of students.”
- The organization, through its petition, sought direction to CBSE affiliated to publish the rationale document for devised criteria for assessment on their respective websites, before calculating the result and uploading the same on the CBSE portal.
- Students will be able to access the CBSE portal and raise their grievances in time if any.
- Furthermore, the petitioners have sought directions from the CBSE, asking them to keep students’ records for future verification of marks. This would ensure that the adopted methodology by schools is fair and transparent.
- The petition also says that the policy of verification of marks/re-evaluation for the 2020-21 assessment result should not be scrapped. Instead of CBSE-affiliated schools, CBSE itself should conduct an online objective– type compartment exam.
- Petitioners have urged the exam conducting body to devise a rectification mechanism of wrong uploading of marks, in case typographical mistakes are accidentally made by schools.
Class 10 Result – What Happened Earlier?
On 14th April 2021, CBSE cancelled the board exams for Class 10 students due to the ongoing pandemic. However, the authorities stated that the results will be prepared based on an objective criterion to be developed by the CBSE. So, they came up with a tabulation policy based on which results will be calculated.
According to the filed petition, CBSE can ‘potentially misuse’ the newly formed tabulation policy against the parents who have been fighting against fee hikes or ‘commercialization of education.
One of the petitioners reportedly claimed, “As part of this tabulation policy, CBSE will also consider the performance of schools in the past 3 years while announcing the class 10 result. This would be an injustice to class 10 students as the performance of the school is not relatable in any manner with the performance of the students.”
Read: CBSE Board Exam 2021 – Changes in Exam Pattern, Assessment, and Evaluation
