The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) on Thursday submitted before the Supreme Court its evaluation criteria for awarding grades or marks for Class 12 examinations. “After perusing the scheme presented by the Boards concerned, prima facie, we have no hesitation in accepting the same and permit the Boards to proceed on that basis,” the court said.
As The Daily Guardian first reported, the Class 12 result will be based on the Class 10 component (30 per cent) based on the best three performing subjects in the board examinations; Class 11 component (30 per cent) will be based on the final examination; and Class 12 component (40 per cent) will be based on the unit test/mid-term/pre-board.
The Supreme Court also decided to hear petitions for cancellation of state board examinations for Class 12 in the states of Assam, Punjab, Tripura and Andhra Pradesh. The court asked the petitioners to notify the states and fixed hearing on 21 June.
The Supreme Court, in its order, said that the “boards scheme must incorporate two aspects, which we have pointed out during the course of arguments. The first is about providing for Dispute Resolution mechanism, in case the students apply for correction of the final result declared by the Boards concerned. The second is about the time-line to be specified for (a) declaration of the result and (b) the date before which the optional examination will be conducted, subject to conducive situation and logistical constraints,” the court added.
In other words, the CBSE and the ICSE will notify the final scheme incorporating the two aspects referred to above which, however, will be subject to further order to be passed on the next date of hearing on 21 June, the court said.
During the hearing Attorney general K.K. Venugopal, who appeared for CBSE, placed the scheme for CBSE which said performance of students in Class 10, 11 and 12 examinations will be considered. For evaluating a student, his marks in best of three papers for Class 10 would be given 30% weightage, for Class 11 weightage of 30% and for Class 12, the weightage is 40%,” the AG said. The AG further argued that for Class 10 and Class 11, the marks in best of three from five papers in term examinations will be considered. For Class 12, the marks obtained in unit, term and practical’s will be taken into account. The result committee will be there for each of the schools to rule out advantage to students in some schools which traditionally give high marks to students, the AG said.
The top court also said that in principle, it approves the CBSE’s decision for taking into account the aggregation of marks of class 10, 11 and 12 with specified weightages. It said, “We are rejecting all arguments for physical hearing. We record prima facie concurrence with CBSE decision on evaluation.”
Appearing for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) advocate J.K. Das informed the SC that it will take the performance of students in last six years while awarding final marks in Class XII. It said the final results will be declared by July 31. The Supreme Court said it would hear the matter on June 21 again to find out whether any other suggestion could be placed before CBSE for consideration.
Speaking to The Daily Guardian, CBSE Examination Controller Sanyam Bhardwaj said: “Results of Class 12 board examinations will be prepared by adding 30% marks of best three subjects of Class 10, 30% marks of Class 11, and 40% marks of unit test, mid-term or pre-board examinations of Class 12. Students who are not satisfied with marks can appear for physical examinations. We’ll start online registration to know the exact number of applicants. Class 10 results will be declared most likely by July 20 and Class 12 by July 31,” he added.