The Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) on Monday informed the Bombay high court that it has decided not to pressurise ICSE – Class X and ISC – Class XII students to appear for the remaining papers of the board exams.
The CISCE gives children the option of opting-out of the remaining papers
The council has informed the bench comprising of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice SS Shinde that it has given the children appearing for the exams an option to either appear for remaining papers scheduled to be held from July 2 or opt-out. In case the children choose the second option, their final results in pending subjects would be determined on the basis of their performance in internal assessment or pre-board examinations or results of board examinations papers in subjects already taken.
Results of other subjects will be declared on the basis of student’s performance in the examination held so far.
The council has said that the same would be communicated to all 2,605 schools affiliated to it and the option of each and every student will be ascertained. It said that the schools would be required to inform the same to its students, who will then choose their response and inform the school, which they would forward to the council latest by June 22.
CISCE responded to a PIL filed by advocate Arvind Tiwari in the Bombay High Court
The Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) had responded to public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Arvind Tiwari in the Bombay High Court, seeking a direction to the Board to cancel the examination of remaining papers.
Weighing the risks that the current coronavirus outbreak would put the children into, Advocate Tiwari, whose son is also appearing for ICSE examination, had said in his PIL that as a precaution, it would make sense for Indian educational boards to cancel the remaining papers of Class X and XII examinations.
Board examinations were postponed due to Covid-19 pandemic
ICSE and ISC 2020 examination started as scheduled on February 27. All the papers till March 18 were held according to the declared timetable. However, late on March 18, the board rescheduled the remaining examination due to restrictions imposed in view of Covid-19 pandemic.
On May 22, the board declared that examination of remaining papers of Class 10 will be held between July 2 and July 12 and examination of remaining papers of Class 12 will be held from July 1 to July 14.
Close to 2.8 lakh students are expected to sit for the ICSE exam in July.
Earlier, the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) was keen on holding examination for the remaining papers. In its reply to the PIL filed by Advocate Tiwari, the council had pointed out that on June 7, it held a video conferencing meeting with the principals of its affiliated schools in Maharashtra. This was attended by principals of 196 of the total 226 schools in the state and 84 of them were in favour of holding examination of remaining papers, said the council.
Tiwari said the bench has now sought to know if the Maharashtra government was willing to grant permission to CISCE for conducting ICSE and ISC examination in remaining papers. The petition has been posted for further hearing on June 17 (Wednesday).
