SC asks committee to examine afresh grievance of some students regarding marks in class 12 exam

The apex court said that the concerned committee of the board would examine the grievance and record reasons for either rejecting or accepting the contentions raised by students.
Supreme Court (File Photo| EPS)
Supreme Court (File Photo| EPS)

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday asked the CBSE's committee to examine afresh the grievances raised by some class 12 pass-out students of a Gujarat-based school regarding allocation of marks.

The apex court said that the concerned committee of the board would examine the grievance and record reasons for either rejecting or accepting the contentions raised by students for questioning the allocation or rationalization of marks given to them.

“We direct the concerned committee to examine the grievance of the petitioners afresh and record reasons for rejecting or accepting the contentions raised by the petitioners for questioning the allocation/rationalization of marks given to them,” a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and C T Ravikumar said.

The apex court passed the order while hearing a petition filed by some class 12 pass-out students who have claimed that their marks have not been calculated based on their actual performance as per the 30:30:40 formula of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

The petitioners have also alleged that the Board failed in properly implementing the procedure of dispute redressal mechanism relating to the results.

The bench said that the plea filed before it be treated as representation and the grounds raised in it be dealt with appropriately by the committee within two weeks.

The top court has listed the matter for hearing after two weeks.

The counsel appearing for the petitioners said the matter raises the issue of alleged non-implementation of the evaluation policy in the true letter and spirit.

The lawyer said that the authority had decided their representation but without a speaking order and they have not gone into the issues raised by the students.

The counsel argued that there was a difference in marks that should have been given to these students based on their actual performance and the marks given in the results.

“Their grievance is that they have not been awarded marks as per the evaluation policy affirmed by the court,” the counsel argued, adding that the petitioners are not challenging the evaluation policy in any manner.

The counsel appearing for the CBSE told the bench that the school was duly informed that results were declared as per the policy of the board.

The bench then asked whether the concerned authority had given reasons while dealing with an individual grievance raised by the student.

The CBSE had earlier told the apex court that it has “duly followed” the assessment scheme in evaluating marks of class 12 students whose exams were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On June 17, the top court had approved the assessment schemes of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) and the CBSE, which had adopted the 30:30:40 formula for evaluation of marks for students of 12th standard based on results of class 10, 11, and 12 respectively.

The apex court had approved the assessment schemes of the CISCE and CBSE and had said that it should incorporate the provision for dispute resolution in case students want correction of the final result.

The plea, which was heard by the apex court on Thursday, has claimed that the petitioners have been awarded lessor marks, causing great prejudice to them.

The plea has alleged that the CBSE provided the mechanism for dispute resolution but “only on paper and failed in implementing the same in reality which has caused great prejudice to the petitioner students and it will cause irreparable loss to them if the same gets unresolved”.

It has also sought direction that their results be declared based on the 30:30:40 formula and by taking into account the actual marks obtained by them.

The CBSE had earlier said it would evaluate class 12 students for theory based on 30 per cent marks from class 10 board, 30 per cent from class 11, and 40 per cent from marks based on the performance in the unit, mid-term, and pre-board tests in class 12.

It had said that marks obtained by class 12 students in practical and internal assessment on an actual basis as uploaded by schools on the CBSE Portal would be also considered in deciding final results.

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