KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday provisionally permitted the 34 students of Arooja’s Little Star School in Kochi to appear for the remaining Class X CBSE exams. The court made it clear that the students shall not claim any equity on account of the interim order and the declaration of the results will be subject to further orders to be passed by the court.
With this order, the students can attend the remaining three exams scheduled to be held on March 4, 12 and 18. Meanwhile, the court also permitted four students of Al-Azhar Public School, Palluruthy, to write the exam. Toc H Public School, Vyttila, has been allotted as an exam centre for Arooja’s students while Bhavans Adarsh Vidyalaya, Kakkanad, has been allotted as the centre for four students of Al-Azhar School.
A Division Bench comprising Justice A M Shaffique and Justice V G Arun issued the directive on an appeal filed by 28 students of Arooja’s Little Star School, challenging the Single Judge’s order. The Single Judge had turned down the students’ petition seeking permission to appear for the remaining CBSE exams, which began on February 24.
The Bench also issued notices to the union government, Central Board of Secondary Education and Arooja’s Little Star School and posted the case to March 23.
According to the petition, the students and their parents were kept in the dark by the school management and the system till the very last minute, regarding affiliation. Petitioners should not lose their one year for the failure of authorities in inspecting the school functioning right under their nose.
When the petition came up for hearing, CBSE’s counsel informed that there were instances of schools functioning without the recognition of state government. Several CBSE schools are functioning without following the stipulations of the board. In the case of Arooja’s school, it has no affiliation since 2012, the CBSE said.
CBSE initiates action
The CBSE initiated action against SDPY School and Leo Public School for attempting to sponsor the students of Arooja’s School.
The CBSE has issued a show cause notice to these schools asking them to explain any reason for not withdrawing their affiliation.
‘Students should accept outcome’
The court orally observed that if it was found that Arooja’s School is functioning without the norms prescribed by the CBSE, the decision of the court will not be in favour of the students and they should be ready to accept the outcome.
CBSE cautions parents
Kochi: Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has issued a statement cautioning the parents to check the affiliation of the schools before admitting their wards. The statement that was issued by CBSE secretary Anurag Tripathi highlighted how some non-affiliated schools whose applications are either under process, rejected by the board or have not applied for affiliation at all are misleading parents. “It should be noted that as per the affiliation by-laws, the board does not allow the non-affiliated school to present candidates for the board examination,” said the CBSE statement. “The parents may go through CBSE affiliation website at www.cbseaff.nic.in where the link for the region-wise/state-wise list of affiliated schools has been given. The same also contains the list of disaffiliated schools,” said the statement. According to the board, CBSE has also issued a circular on February 29 regarding this. “It can also be seen by the public on the CBSE official website www.cbse.nic.in.
