Students who have appeared for more than three subjects in their Class 10 and 12 board examinations will be marked for pending papers on the basis of an average, which will be calculated by combining marks scored in top three subjects for which examinations have already been held, the Central Board of Secondary Education has informed the Supreme Court in an affidavit.
For students who have written only three board papers in total, marks for exams that have not been conducted will be based on the average, which will be calculated by taking into account marks from two best performing subjects, for which board examinations have been held.
Students who have written only one or two board examination papers so far will be evaluated on the basis of marks scored in the exams combined with internal assessment.
However, only students of Class 12 will have the option of appearing for the pending exams at a later stage, whenever the central government finds the situation conducive.
This option is not available for students of Class 10, who will be marked only on the basis of previous exams.
Class 12 candidates whose results will be declared based on the assessment scheme will be allowed to appear in these optional examinations to improve their performance, if they wish so. However, the marks obtained by a candidate in these optional examinations will be treated as final for those who have opted to take these examinations.
For class 12 candidates who do not wish to opt for these exams, marks calculated through the assessment scheme would be considered as final.
Results based on the aforesaid assessment scheme will be declared by 15 July 2020 so that candidates can apply and seek admissions in Higher Education Institutions in India and abroad.
Reacting to the Supreme Court’s decision, Union Human Resource Development minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal said exams had to be cancelled due to the situation at hand. He thanked the Supreme Court for approving of CBSE’s affidavit.
He reiterated that class 12 students can sit for pen and paper exams later, if they are not satisfied with results which will be declared by 15 July.
CBSE Cancels Pending Exams
On Thursday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had told the apex court that that pending CBSE Class 10 and 12 board examinations, that were scheduled from 1 to 15 July, have been cancelled.
In a hearing before the Supreme Cout on Thursday, 26 June, SG Mehta had said the Class 10 students would not have to write pending exams and would be graded on the basis of the marks scored in the past three exams.
However, Class 12 students can choose not to write pending exams and be marked for those exams on the basis of the last three exams or write pen and paper exams, which will be conducted by the board when the situation is conducive.
Mehta also added that admissions can take place on the basis of assessment and that results for the same would declared by 15 July.
Who Will Take a Call on Conducting Exams?
However, the Supreme Court bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna asked SG Mehta “You have mentioned exams will be conducted when situation is conducive. But this can vary from state to state. Will this decision be taken by Centre or the state?"
To this, Mehta replied saying that a decision on this will be taken at the central and not at the state level.
Finally, the bench directed SG Mehta to “file a fresh notification too and clear instructions that a final decision of a later exam will be taken at the central level and not at state level.”
Similarly, ICSE, too, said that it would largely follow CBSE’s methodology and mark students on the basis of internal assessment. ICSE also said that it may conduct exams at a later stage.
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