CBSE Class 12 results likely tomorrow, board won’t challenge HC order
Marks may fall slightly as board decides to do away with spiking of marks but continue with moderation policy as ordered by Delhi HC. Decision after legal advisers said a challenge could delay results.
The CBSE Class 12 examination results are likely to be announced by Saturday evening, sources in the country’s largest education board said. The board will announce the date of the result on Friday evening on its website.
The Central Board of Secondary Education, which sets the curriculum and organises school-clearing examinations for millions of children across the country, has decided to continue with its five-point moderation policy for this year.
“Results will be declared in light of the High Court’s directions and keeping our declared five-point moderation policy in mind. There will be strictly no spiking of marks and the decision taken in the April meeting will also be followed,” a source said. If not Saturday, the official added, result will certainly be declared by Sunday.
On Thursday, Union human resources development minister Prakash Javadekar assured Class 12 students that the result will be declared on time.
His comments came in the wake of a Delhi High Court order asking CBSE to continue for this year its moderation policy that it had decided to drop in an April meeting.
The moderation policy refers to a practice in which students are given extra marks in subjects regarded unusually difficult, or when there have been differences in the sets of question papers.
But such extra marks were often doled out in excess, leading to overall scores being spiked and triggering high cut-offs in universities for freshers.
The board earlier appeared to be considering a challenge to the HC order, but its legal advisers said the process might end up delaying the result announcement significantly.
“It has been decided that the board will not move the court based on the opinion received from the legal counsel and the Additional Solicitor General (ASG). We will carry out moderation based on the rules set (in the examination by laws of CBSE). But no ‘artificial’ spiking of marks will be done,” said a CBSE official.
The episode left students anxious, many fearing that a delay would hit their chances in landing a college seat.
Last year, the CBSE announced the Class 12 results on May 21.
Sources said the scores this year may dip slightly compared to last year’s since marks will not be spiked.
On Thursday, a meeting was held between CBSE officials and the legal counsel where the ministry was advised that moving the apex court may be counter-productive and could also delay results in case the Supreme Court refuses to intervene.
The moderation policy says extra marks will be given over any of the following factors:
1.If students found it difficult to solve a question due to ambiguities/misinterpretation of a question
2.If a particular set of question papers had tougher questions than others
3.To maintain parity of pass percentage of students in the current year compared to previous examinations. This parity is seen for individual subjects and overall percentages
4.To bring parity keeping the subjectivity involved in the evaluation process
5.To compensate for variations and to bring uniformity in the evaluation process.
In addition to this policy, the Board’s policy on grace marks – extra points given to help students pass a subject that they would have otherwise failed by a few marks – will remain.
