Not viable to hold ICSE, ISC exams during pandemic, state tells HC

Maharashtra government on Friday informed the Bombay high court (HC) that in the current scenario of Covid-19 pandemic it is not viable to hold Class 10 examination

Maharashtra government on Friday informed the Bombay high court (HC) that in the current scenario of Covid-19 pandemic it is not viable to hold Class 10 examination of Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) Board, which conducts Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) and the Indian School Certificate (ISC) Examination for Class 10 and 12 students respectively, in the state.

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Advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni informed the bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice SS Shinde that the secretary of the school education department has already written a letter to CISCE saying that it was not viable to hold examination in the state in view of the Covid-19 outbreak.

He was responding to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Arvind Tiwari, whose son is a student of an ICSE school in the city, seeking a direction to the board to cancel examination of remaining papers and declare results on the basis if gradation, past performance and the performance in the papers for which examination have already been held.

The PIL said the board declared its examination schedule in December 2019 and the examination started as scheduled on February 27. All the papers till March 18 were held according to the declared timetable. However, late on March 18, the board rescheduled the remaining examination due to restrictions imposed in view of Covid-19 pandemic.

On May 22, the board declared that examination of remaining papers of Class 10 will be held between July 2 and July 12 and examination of remaining papers of Class 12 will be held from July 1 to July 14.

CISCE, however, is keen on holding examination for the remaining papers. In its reply to the PIL, it has pointed out that on June 7, it held a video conferencing meeting with principals of affiliated schools in Maharashtra which was attended by principals of 196 of the total 226 schools in the state, and that 84℅ of them were in favour of holding examination of remaining papers.

It added that on June 9, it has issued instructions to the principals to take adequate precautions which include sanitisation of examination halls, washrooms, compulsory face masks, seating arrangements to be commensurate with social distancing norms, thermal screening etc.

The court has now posted the PIL for further hearing on Monday as the hearing could not be concluded on Friday.