Can't stall admission process: HC
Seeking clarification from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on whether the Class 10 school and board exams are at par with each other, the Bombay high court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the ongoing junior college admission process.
Seeking clarification from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on whether the Class 10 school and board exams are at par with each other, the Bombay high court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the ongoing junior college admission process. The court was hearing a CBSE student’s petition challenging the state’s decision of not considering Class 10 school exam takers for the online admission process.
“We can’t stall the ongoing admission process,” the division bench of justice PB Majmudar and justice Mridula Bhatkar told advocate Aniket Nikam, who represented the student from Andheri, Shruti Mathuria.
In a petition filed through her father, Shruti challenged the state government’s decision of not considering the applications of Class 10 CBSE students, who opted for school final exam instead of the board exam, for online junior college admissions.
According to the June 18, 2011 communiqué issued by the director of education department, applications of such CBSE students would be considered for the offline procedure after August 11, 2011.
Arguing that seats in all good junior colleges would be filled in by then, Nikam sought interim relief by way of allowing the 16-year-old who passed out from Rajhans Vidyalaya, Andheri (West), to submit the form for online admission, which closes on Thursday.
Assistant government pleader Anjali Helekar, however, opposed the plea contending that the girl had approached the court at the eleventh hour and a large number of students would be affected if interim relief were to be granted to Shruti.
The judges said: “You are not the only student, and there must be thousands like you.”
Nikam, however, pointed out that all CBSE schools were made to understand (by the central board) that there was no difference between the two options made available through the Comprehensive and Continuous Education (CCE). He also stated that despite securing 93% marks in Class 10 examination, Shruti would not get admission to a good college.
The court, then, promised to consider her plea if the central board supports her contention that there is no difference in standards and difficulty level in two options given by the central board.
Last year, the CBSE board had introduced the CCE in order to do away with Class 10 board examinations under which the students are given an additional option of school-based evaluation of 40% marks, in addition to the regular 100% examination, as being held by various boards.
Nikam argued that the school-based evaluation is essentially similar to the board-based examination as the question papers are being set and vetted by the board, and the mark sheet too is issued by the board without making any differentiation between the two options. He submitted that since there was no difference in curriculum, difficulty level and standard of the examinations, state government could not have distinguished between the two.
The court has now issued a notice to the CBSE, and adjourned further hearing till July 11, when the central board is likely to clear its stand on similarity between the two options.