New Delhi: The Union Human Resource Development Ministry on Thursday stated before the Supreme Court that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 10 and 12 board examinations stand cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The exams were scheduled from 1 to 15 July.
The top court had deferred the hearing on Tuesday to June 25 after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the Centre and CBSE, submitted that a discussions was on and that a decision will be taken by Wednesday evening.
The board has decided to make the examinations for Class 12 optional.
The ministry side informed the apex court that while exams for Class 12 students would be conducted when the situation would be “conducive”, the students who opt for the exams would have the said marks as final.
For others, the CBSE will take marks scored in the past three exams in account.
On the other hand, Class 10 students will not get the same option and the exams stand cancelled for all.
The hearings at the apex court were based on a petition filed by the parents of CBSE students, who had said conducting board exams in this pandemic situation would be highly risky.
To ensure the safety, the petitioners had sought the Supreme Court intervention and to scrap the pending CBSE examinations and allow students to be graded on the basis of internal assessment in combination with marks of papers that have already been conducted.
Meanwhile, the results for the already held exams will be declared in mid-August and the academic year is expected to start in September 2020.
The Court has asked the Centre and the CBSE to issue fresh notifications regarding the class 12 examinations clarifying on the issue of option between internal assessment and exam, the status of state board exams and date of results.
The Ministry will issue a notification in this regard on Friday.
Following suit, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), too, cancelled the pending ICSE and ISC exams. The CISCE said it will grade students based on the pattern of internal assessments, the MHRD informed the apex court.
Besides, the Union Human Resource Development Ministry is also likely to make a fresh announcement on the conduct of JEE Main and NEET (UG) 2020 entrance examinations, shortly.
