The Madras High Court has refused to accept an argument that since the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had awarded marks for class X students, on the basis of internal assessment, despite not conducting the Board examinations due to COVID-19 lockdown last year, the State Board schools could also follow suit.
Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy wrote: “The CBSE is a different examination Board and their decision cannot mandate the State Government to change its policy decision and more specifically to award the marks without an examination which otherwise would not be appropriate.”
The judges also said that it was not only Tamil Nadu but many other States too had taken a similar decision to simply declare all Class X students to have passed the Board examinations during the pandemic period without awarding specific marks for each subject that they had studied online during the lockdown.
