God save education system: HC raps Maharashtra govt on SSC tests

The Bombay high court (HC) has rapped the state government for not having a contingency plan in place for assessing students before cancelling the Class 10 exams and asked it to file an affidavit on the measures it plans to take to address the issues raised in public interest litigation related to admission to Class 11 given the cancellation of the Class 10 exams

The Bombay high court (HC) has rapped the state government for not having a contingency plan in place for assessing students before cancelling the Class 10 exams and asked it to file an affidavit on the measures it plans to take to address the issues raised in public interest litigation related to admission to Class 11 given the cancellation of the Class 10 exams.

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The court said that as the Class 10 exams were the last schooling examination for students, they could not be promoted without having been assessed, as it would have an adverse effect on their future.

A division bench of justice SJ Kathawalla and justice SP Tavade, while hearing the PIL filed by retired professor and Pune resident Dhananjay Kulkarni, was informed by advocate Uday Warunjikar that though the notification announcing the cancellation of Class 10 exams in the state was issued on May 12, as per news reports the decision was taken on April 15. He added though the government resolution was issued a month after the decision was taken, the state had not prepared a plan for assessing the students.

Warunjikar added that while other boards like CBSE, ICSE and IB had an internal assessment to evaluate their students and declare their class 10 results, the students of the state board were not assessed from class 1-8 as the Right to Education (RTE) Act did not permit exams till then and due to the pandemic, Class 9 students were also not assessed last year and promoted to Class 10, hence there was no internal assessment based on which the state board students could be assessed like students from other boards.

Government pleader Priyabhushan Kakade for the state submitted that the issue of coming up with an evaluation system for students of the state board had been referred to the State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT) and their response was awaited. He submitted that SCERT had control over the marking system and performance standard in Maharashtra, hence the state would have a formula on marking within a week.

When Kakade said did not respond to the court’s query on whether an examination would be held for class 10 state board students, the court said, “Are you thinking of promoting them without examination? God save the education system of this country. This is the only examination and the last examination of their schooling. If you are waiting for suggestions from them (SCERT), who took this decision?”

After the court sought to know whether such Class 10 examinations were cancelled in other states as well both Kakade and an intervenor informed that the states of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh had also done so.

The court then questioned as to why Class 10 exams were being cancelled while Class 12 exams were being conducted and then sought to know from other boards how they would be assessing and promoting students if they had also cancelled Class 10 exams.

Advocate Mihir Joshi for CBSE said that the board had conducted internal assessments which is part of the final assessment. He added that the performances of students of the last three years would be considered to ensure no student gets over and above what they usually get.

Advocate Pratik Kothari for ICSE submitted that the board conducted internal assessments and had exams till Class 9. He added that the board would appoint experts and come up with a formula like they had done last year which was approved by the Supreme Court.

After hearing all submissions, the court addressed Kakade and said that as a decision was yet to be taken on how to assess the state board students for Class 10 the state should have had a blueprint in place before making the decision. “Exams have to be conducted now or later. If you are cancelling then you have to have some blueprint, not just some getaway for students. Checks and balances have to be in place. There are law firms which say we will not take students who get above 90% in exams.”

The court then permitted the state to submit the decision of SCERT within a week and posted a hearing of the PIL thereafter.