The remaining examinations for class 10 students of Rajasthan state board will be held as per schedule on June 29 and 30 after the Supreme Court on Sunday declined a plea by the mother of a class 10 student to cancel the exam in view of Covid-19 pandemic.
At a special sitting held late evening on Sunday, a 3-judge bench of the top court headed by justice AM Khanwilkar declined to grant relief to the petitioner, Maghi Devi who had moved the court on June 27 seeking urgent relief in view of the fact the exams are scheduled to commence from Monday.
The bench which also comprised justices Dinseh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna observed that the state government has taken necessary precautionary measures and the court was not inclined to interfere at the eleventh hour when the exams are set to commence on Monday.
The same three-judge bench had, last week, paved the way for cancellation of remaining CBSE and ICSE examinations in view of the Coronavirus threat.
Devi cited this aspect to bolster her case.
{{/usCountry}}Devi cited this aspect to bolster her case.
{{/usCountry}}“The Supreme Court had passed a direction not to conduct examinations for classes 10 and 12 of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) by order dated June 26, 2020”, she pointed out.
More than 1.1 million students are appearing for class 10 examinations under the Rajasthan state board this year. The examinations had commenced in March and were held up till March 18 when it was put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Subsequently, the Board of Secondary Education of Rajasthan had decided in May that the remaining exams for class 10 will be held on June 29 and June 30.
The petitioner approached the Rajasthan high court against that decision but the high court dismissed the same giving a green signal for holding the remaining examinations in strict compliance with the instructions of the central and state government.
Later, Devi had also filed a contempt petition before the high court alleging that measures to contain Covid-19 have not been satisfactorily adopted by the authorities conducting the examinations. It was argued that there was no thermal screening of students, hand sanitisers were not available and measures have not been adopted to maintain social distancing during the exam.
This petition was also dismissed by the high court on June 18 prompting Devi to approach the Supreme Court. She argued that the high court failed to take into account the fact the children will be exposed to the risk of getting infected by Coronavirus jeopardizing their health.
“The high court failed to appreciate that about 120 schools which are examination centres were used to quarantine people for labourers in transit”, the petition stated.