CUTTACK/BHUBANESWAR: In a significant decision, the Orissa High Court on Wednesday directed the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) to re-evaluate the answer sheets of students who had moved the court over alleged discrepancies in the Class XII examination.
The single judge bench of Justice Biswanath Rath directed the CBSE to get the answer sheets re-evaluated by an expert panel and come up with the results by June 10 even as hundreds of students and their parents from three States continued their agitation before the Central Board’s office here.
The High Court has asked the students who had moved the court to make applications to the CBSE regional office by 2 pm tomorrow (Thursday). As many as 18 students had filed individual writ petitions before the High Court seeking its direction on the Class XII evaluation discrepancies.
Meanwhile, a day after being forcibly evacuated by the police for protesting outside the CBSE Regional Office here, the students, affected by the alleged faulty evaluation, launched an indefinite ‘silent strike.’
The agitators, under the umbrella of Odisha Abhibhabaka Mahasangha (OAM), maintained that the strike will not end till the CBSE agrees to their demands of re-evaluation and implementation of mark modulation.
Apart from seeking CBSE’s Regional Officer’s removal, the agitators have also demanded a through probe into the alleged discrepancies which have affected more than 10,000 students in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.
The agitating students and their parents said they will also move the High Court soon seeking re-evaluation of answer papers of all the students who have been affected.
For the third consecutive day, the media and public were barred from entering the CBSE office on the pretext that answer papers are being checked inside. “Only teachers of CBSE will be allowed,” said a staffer.
In the wake of a student attempting self-immolation on Tuesday, two fire-fighting units have been mobilised at the strike venue at Alok Bharati Towers in Sahid Nagar. Apprehending that the situation might escalate, the Commissionerate of Police stationed two-platoon force there.
The volume of agitators has grown as students from neighbouring States have also joined the ‘silent strike’ called by OAM.
“Enough of negotiation, our silence will speak for us now,” said OAM president Sudarsan Das before the silent agitation was launched.