Tabulation of marks in Class X Board exams on internal assessment: Delhi High Court issues notice in plea seeking modification of CBSE policy

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The Delhi High Court today issued notice on a plea seeking modification in the CBSE policy for tabulation of marks for class x board exams 2021 based on internal assessment conducted by the school.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh was hearing a petition filed by NGO Justice For All, who has submitted that the said policy dated 01.05.2021 is in violation of Article 21 and 21A of the constitution of India, Disaster Management Act, 2005, Epidemic Act, 2020, RTE Act, 2009, DSEAR, 1973, School Bag Policy, 2020.

The Petitioner has submitted that “the policy of moderation of marks devised by the board is absolutely constitutional, in contrast to the fundamental right guaranteed to the students under Article 21A of the Constitution of India, as the performance of a student of the present batch, is being judged and calculated by the performance of the previous batch of students, the performance of teachers of the school, also with the performance of the state or district. That the average calculated of the performance in board exams of previous year’s batches cannot in any manner be the reference to judge students of the current academic year”.

In the light of the above circumstances, the petitioner has sought to direct the CBSE to look into the aforementioned issues and modify the policy accordingly, so that the assessment of the students would be  based on fair, reasonable modality and the school management may not use it in any manner as a tool to exploit and harass the parents or students as per their whims and fancies.

The other prayers sought by the petitioner are:

  • to direct all the schools affiliated by the board to publish the rationale document for devised criteria for the assessment of students of class Xth on their respective websites, before calculating the result and uploading the 21 same on the CBSE portal, to bring transparency, also so that the students may access it and could raise their grievances with the board well in time.
  • to pass an order, writ or directions to the respondents to direct all the schools affiliated with Respondent no. 1 to publish the criteria of stream selection for the students in class 11th on their respective websites and to devise a grievance redressal mechanism by the students to the respondents for the same.
  •  to pass an order, writ or directions to the respondent no. 1 to keep the records of the students in their custody for any future verification of marks or to ensure that the methodology adopted by the schools are transparent and fair. e) to pass an order, writ or directions to the respondent no. 1 not to scrap the policy of verification of marks/reevaluation for the year 2020-21 assessment results.
  •  to pass an order, writ or directions to the respondent no. 1 to conduct the objective type compartment exam online by the CBSE rather than to be conducted by the school.
  •  to pass an order, writ or directions to the respondent no. 1 to devise the mechanism for rectification of wrong uploading of marks, in case, because of typographical error by the school.