CBSE Class 12 Board Exam 2021: A repeat of last year's court saga as case filed in SC for cancellation

A repeat of the 2020 court saga on the cancellation of CBSE Board exams is the biggest worry for students, with a plea filed in the Supreme Court seeking the cancellation of the examination due to the rising cases of COVID-19.

Advocate Mamata Sharma has filed a plea to cancel the CBSE Class XII board exams 2021, and requested the apex court to advise the board to declare the results based on past assessment.

She said in her petition that the Class XII examination would not be feasible because of the COVID situation. Sharma also added that any delay in the declaration of results would hamper students’ chances of applying to foreign universities.

It is likely that the matter will be heard next week. The education ministry, on the other hand, is not in favour of complete cancellation.

Every year, close to 1.2 million students appear for CBSE Class XII examinations across the country. As per the original schedule, the board exams were to be held between May 4 and June 14. The results were to be declared by July 15.

However, by the second week of April 2021, the COVID-19 situation worsened and the education ministry decided to cancel the CBSE Class X board exams.

On April 14, the ministry announced that it has postponed the CBSE Class XII 2021 board exam while the Class X board exam has been cancelled.

However, the revised dates for the Class XII examinations have not yet been announced. With this, there are admission-related concerns for students since study-abroad programmes in places like Australia and Singapore are heading towards the application deadlines in the next few weeks.

A recap of 2020?

In 2020, the CBSE Class X and XII board examinations were to be held between July 1 and 15. This was rescheduled from the original dates in March 2020 after the COVID-19 outbreak in India.

Following this, a slew of petitions were filed in the SC seeking the cancellation of exams. Following representations from parents and the CBSE, the SC, under Justice AM Khanwilkar, accepted the CBSE notification to cancel the exams.

The SC order was in response to a petition filed in the apex court by Delhi-based parents, challenging the CBSE’s decision to conduct board examinations amidst the pandemic.

Solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the Centre and the CBSE at the SC, said that for Class X, the remaining board exams stand cancelled.

In response to Mehta's arguments, the SC said it will give its final order on June 26. The SC had asked the CBSE to give a fresh notification on opting between internal assessments and exams as well as on the declaration of results.

The Class XII exams scheduled from July 1 were cancelled, but students were given an option to give exams at a later date. Eventually, students did not opt to appear for the examinations as the COVID-19 situation remained grave.

What are the options now?

State governments, including those in Maharashtra and Karnataka, have sought that the final decision on the CBSE Class XII examination should be announced soon.

“Only when the central government announces the cancellation or revised assessments for Class XII can individual states take a call for their boards. Delays would lead to students losing out on good higher education opportunities,” said a Maharashtra government official.

In 2020, since the students had written a majority of the CBSE examination papers in the board exams by mid-March, it was easier to cancel the last paper and grade the students, based on their performance in other papers.

This year, the situation is different as not a single exam has been held so far.

"Students are running campaigns on social media, seeking the cancellation of exams. But for Class XII, it is not feasible to completely cancel exams because their higher education is based on the marks scored in these exams,” said Prema Das, principal at Shanti Devi High School in Kolkata.

She said that a mix of online plus offline assessment should be held to ensure that students are graded, based on their knowledge.

A completely online assessment would exclude students who don't have access to smartphones, web cameras, stable internet connection and laptops/computers. Moneycontrol had reported earlier how an extended lockdown and online-only classes are leading to a rise in dropout worries for students.

"It would be incorrect to assume that all students have laptops and smartphones. The CBSE is aware of the fact that less than 35 percent of the 1.2 million students appearing for Class XII board exams this year will have the technological infrastructure needed for writing the tests. Objective assessment based on past performance seems like the only option," said Vikrant Oberoi, founder of grassroot organisation ExcelLearn that works with schools in semi-urban and rural areas to bridge learning gaps.

The CBSE and the education ministry under Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had sought feedback from students, schools and teachers on conducting examinations in 2021 amidst the pandemic. The consensus was that physical examinations cannot be held, considering the high risks of contracting COVID-19.