Supreme Court Rejects the Pleas Challenging CBSE and CISCE Exam Cancellation and Alternative Assessment Policy

Vinod Kakumanu
June 30, 2021, 5:19 p.m.

In May this year, the CBSE cancelled the board examinations for class 12, and the CISCE followed suit. In June a petition challenging the cancellation of the exams was filed in the. The SC dismissed the plea and upheld the cancellation of the exams.

The alternative assessment scheme that has been put forth by the boards for promoting the students sans exams was also challenged, the apex court dismissed the plea challenging the assessment schemes as well.

A Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari held that they find the board’s schemes and decisions proper, considerate, and in the interest of the students.

The petitioner had challenged the cancellation of exams arguing that they seem to be arbitrary as the JEE and other competitive exams have not been cancelled. The court maintained that the decision to hold or cancel lies with the discretion of the board as each exam is an independent event, and require different logistics.

The Uttar Pradesh Parents’ Association, Lucknow, had moved the SC against the assessment policies of the CBSE. The plaintiff demanded that the students be allowed to appear in physical exams. The SC responded to that by ruling that the holding of exams before the declaration of the computed results will create uncertainty, and once the results are declared, improvisation exams may be held.

Notably, the CBSE 12^th results are set to be declared on July 31.

The Attorney General (AG) KK Venugopal, submitted that the evaluation of the past performance is integral to the alternative assessment scheme.

Additionally, the apex court also rejected a plea challenging the offline exams for compartment and private candidates from August 15.