CBSE Class XII Board Exam 2021: SC adjourns matter to May 31

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The Supreme Court adjourned the hearing for a plea seeking cancellation of CBSE Class XII Board Exam 2021 to May 31.

Responding to the plea, Justice AM Khanwilkar said on May 28 that the petitioners have to serve notices to the CBSE and Indian government. He added that the matter can be heard only after doing that.

Advocate Mamata Sharma had filed a plea to cancel the CBSE Class XII board exams 2021 due to COVID-19 second wave, and requested the apex court to advise the board to declare the results based on past assessment.

Following the SC taking up the matter today, Sharma has been asked to serve advance copies of the ruling to CBSE and the Union of India.

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. Suggestions had been sought from the state government and the consensus is that exams must be held from home.

It is likely that the education ministry will take a final decision on the matter in the first week of June 2021.

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.