New Delhi:The Supreme Court will hear a plea on Wednesday seeking urgent listing of a petition demanding cancellation of physical exams for Class 10 and 12 scheduled to be conducted by all state boards, CBSE, ICSE, and NIOS.
The petition will be heard by a bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, which oversaw the conduct of exams based on CBSE's 30:30:40 alternative evaluation criteria for exams last year. The plea, filed through advocate Prashant Padmanabhan, said many students studying in CBSE, ICSE, NIOS and state board approached the petitioner, Anubha Shrivastava Sahai, for issues they are facing regarding the board exams and are directly affected by the outcome of this PIL.
"The other petitioners are students as well as the parents from different states, who were aggrieved by the Board's decision. That, the mental pressure that is created for performance in this exam is so much that every year a number of students commit suicide for fear of underperformance, or of failure", said the plea.
Padmanabhan mentioned the matter Tuesday for urgent listing before a bench headed by Justice Khanwilkar. The bench directed that an advanced copy of the petition be served on the CBSE. The plea added, "To make the students appear and face examination with the additional fear of getting infected by the Covid-19 virus will not only be unfair but the same will be absolutely inhuman".
The petitioners contended that their claim is genuine and it is essential to protect their fundamental rights of education under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. The plea urged the top court to issue directions to concerned authorities to pass a notification regarding alternate mode of assessment of students from Class 10, 11 and 12 of CBSE, ICSE, NIOS and state boards instead of offline exams.