The Supreme Court will hear on Wednesday a petition against the holding of physical board examinations for classes 10 and 12 in 2022.
The case will come up before a Bench led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar.
In an urgent oral mentioning before Justice Khanwilkar's Bench, advocate Prashant Padmanabhan, for petitioner Anubha Srivastava Sahai, said physical classes were not conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The danger of a spike in cases could not be ignored though the situation had improved. Mr. Padmanabhan recalled that the Supreme Court had cancelled the physical examinations last year and directed the authorities to devise an alternative assessment mechanism.
The petition has challenged the conduct of physical exams by the CBSE, the ICSE and the State boards. Mr. Padmanabhan said board examinations had already started in Madhya Pradesh and required urgent intervention.
The court asked the lawyer to serve an advance copy of the petition to the CBSE. "We will list the case tomorrow," Justice Khanwilkar remarked. The CBSE has decided to conduct term two board examinations for class 10 and class 12 from April 26.
The petition has also sought the setting up of a committee to finalise the alternative formula for assessment of marks of class 12 students, fix a timeline for declaration of the results and declare the date for admission into various universities.
