1. Cancellation of Class XII board examinations — Proposal of alternative mark tabulation schemes by education boards. (Para 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 )
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2021 Supreme(SC) 720
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
A.M. KHANWILKAR, DINESH MAHESHWARI, JJ.
MAMTA SHARMA - Petitioners
Vs.
CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION & ORS. - Respondents
Writ Petitions Civil Nos. 522/2021
Decided On : 17-06-2021
Important Points
The Supreme Court upheld the decision of CBSE and ICSE to cancel Class XII examinations and accepted their alternative assessment schemes, provided they incorporate a dispute resolution mechanism for result corrections and specify timelines for result declaration and optional examinations for students seeking mark improvement.
Subject
Education Law - Board Examination
Act Referred
Examination Bye-Laws of the Board: R.59
Headnote
Order - Cancellation of Board examinations - Assessment of theory portion - Broad distribution of marks assigned to various components on basis of which final marks of every student – Held, Court have no hesitation in accepting same and permit Boards to proceed on that basis. However, scheme must incorporate two aspects, which we have pointed out during course of arguments - First is about providing for dispute resolution mechanism, in case students apply for correction of final result declared by Boards concerned - Second is about timeline to be specified for (a) declaration of result, and (b) date before which optional examination will be conducted, subject to conducive situation and logistical constraints – Ordered accordingly.
Legal Category Hierarchy
Advocates Appeared:
For the Respondents: Mr. K.K. Venugopal, A.G., Mr. Tushar Mehta, S.G.,Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR, Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv.,Mr. Ankur Talwar, Adv.,Ms. Suhasini Sen, Adv.,Ms. Apoorva Kurup, Adv., Mr. Tushar Mehta, S.G.,Mr. Rupesh Kumar, AOR.,Mr. Rajeev Sharma, Adv.,Ms. Neelam Sharma, Adv.,Ms. Pankhuri Shrivastava, Adv.,Mr. Alekshendra Sharma, Adv., Mr. Pravesh Bahuguna, Adv., Mr. J.K. Das, Sr. Adv.,Mr. Sandeep Devashish Das, AOR,Ms. Arushi Mishra, Adv.,Mr. Shashwat Sarin, Adv.,Mr. Jose Abraham, AOR,Mr. Robin Raju, Adv.,Mr. M.P. Srivignesh, Adv.,Ms. Anju Joseph, Adv.,Ms. Deepa Joseph, Adv.,Mr. Inderjit Sinha, Adv.,Mr. Pai Amit, AOR,Mr. Kumar Vaibhav, Adv.,Ms. Pankhuri Bhardwaj, Adv,Dr. Charu Mathur, AOR,Ms. Tanvi Dubey, Adv.,Mr. Sanjay Kumar Dubey, Adv.,Mr. Sanpreet Singh Ajmani, Adv.,Mr. R. P. Gupta, AOR,Mr. James P. Thomas, AOR,Mr. Apzal Ansari, Adv.
For the Respondents: Mr. K.K. Venugopal, A.G., Mr. Tushar Mehta, S.G.,Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR, Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv.,Mr. Ankur Talwar, Adv.,Ms. Suhasini Sen, Adv.,Ms. Apoorva Kurup, Adv., Mr. Tushar Mehta, S.G.,Mr. Rupesh Kumar, AOR.,Mr. Rajeev Sharma, Adv.,Ms. Neelam Sharma, Adv.,Ms. Pankhuri Shrivastava, Adv.,Mr. Alekshendra Sharma, Adv., Mr. Pravesh Bahuguna, Adv., Mr. J.K. Das, Sr. Adv.,Mr. Sandeep Devashish Das, AOR,Ms. Arushi Mishra, Adv.,Mr. Shashwat Sarin, Adv.,Mr. Jose Abraham, AOR,Mr. Robin Raju, Adv.,Mr. M.P. Srivignesh, Adv.,Ms. Anju Joseph, Adv.,Ms. Deepa Joseph, Adv.,Mr. Inderjit Sinha, Adv.,Mr. Pai Amit, AOR,Mr. Kumar Vaibhav, Adv.,Ms. Pankhuri Bhardwaj, Adv,Dr. Charu Mathur, AOR,Ms. Tanvi Dubey, Adv.,Mr. Sanjay Kumar Dubey, Adv.,Mr. Sanpreet Singh Ajmani, Adv.,Mr. R. P. Gupta, AOR,Mr. James P. Thomas, AOR,Mr. Apzal Ansari, Adv.
Table of Contents
2. Challenge to the decision of education boards to cancel board examinations. (Para 5 )
3. Cancellation of examinations is permissible where students are granted an opportunity to appear in optional examinations for mark improvement, preventing prejudice. (Para 6 )
4. Administrative decisions to cancel examinations are sustainable if a remedial mechanism for mark improvement is provided to ensure no prejudice to students. (Para 6 )
5. Assessment schemes accepted subject to the inclusion of a dispute resolution mechanism and a specified timeline for results and optional examinations. (Para 7 , 8 , 11 )
6. Whether the decision to cancel board examinations can be reversed if students seek mark improvement?
The court held that the decision to cancel examinations cannot be reversed if the scheme allows students to appear in optional examinations for the improvisation of their marks, as this ensures no prejudice is caused to the students. (Para 6 )
7. What mandatory elements must be incorporated into a board's mark tabulation scheme to ensure fairness?
The scheme must include a dispute resolution mechanism for students seeking correction of final results and a specified timeline for the declaration of results and the conduct of optional examinations. (Para 7 , 8 )
ORDER :
1. We have heard the learned Attorney General representing the Union of India, Mr. Tushar Mehta, learned Solicitor General representing the CBSE and Mr. J.K. Das, learned senior counsel representing the ICSE.
2. They have placed on record the detailed schemes formulated by the Expert Committee of the respective Boards on affidavit.
3. The gist of the proposed scheme propounded by the CBSE Board is appended to the affidavit as Annexure R-1/2, which is reproduced as under:
“SUMMARY OF THE POLICY
FOR TABULATION OF MARKS FOR CLASS XII BOARD EXAMINATIONS 2021
| 1 | (a) Due to cancellation of the Board examinations, the assessment of theory portion of 80/70/60/50/30 marks will be done by the school based on the following: | ||||||||
| Class | Component to be evaluated | Percentage | |||||||
| Class XII | Marks based on Unit Test/Mid-Term/Pre-Board Exam | 40% | |||||||
| Class XI | Marks based on theory component of final exam | 30% | |||||||
| Class X | Marks based on average theory component of best three performing subjects out of main 5 subjects. | 30% | |||||||
| (b) The marks of Practical/Internal Assessment, etc. of Class XII will be on actual basis as uploaded by the school on the CBSE portal. (c) The total marks awarded should be in consonance with the past performance of the school in Class XII Board Examinations. | |||||||||
| Assessment and its components | |||||||||
| 2 | Accordingly, in accordance with points above, the broad distribution of marks assigned to various components on the basis of which the final marks of every student will be computed is as follows: | ||||||||
| Theory Marks | Practical/IA Marks | Total Marks | |||||||
| Class | Class | Class | Class | Class | Class | Class | |||
| X | XI | XII | XII | X | XI | XII | |||
| 30% | 30% | 40% | |||||||
| 80 | 24 | 24 | 32 | 20 | 24 | 24 | 52 | ||
| 70 | 21 | 21 | 28 | 30 | 21 | 21 | 58 | ||
| 60 | 18 | 18 | 24 | 40 | 18 | 18 | 64 | ||
| 50 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 50 | 15 | 15 | 70 | ||
| 30 | 09 | 09 | 12 | 70 | 09 | 09 | 82 | ||
| computation of theory marks | |||||||||
| 3 | (a) Class XII Theory Marks |
| The computation of theory marks for Class XII will be based on performance in one or more Unit Test(s)/Mid-Term/Pre-Board(s) theory examination. The Result Committee of the school may decide weightage to be given to each exam based on the credibility and reliability of the assessment. For example, if the Committee may be of the considered view that only the Pre-Board exams may be taken into consideration, then a full weightage can be given to that component. Similarly, another school Result Committee may decide to give equal weightage to Pre-Board exams and Mid-Term exams. | |
| (b) Class XI Theory Marks | |
| Computation of Class XI theory marks shall be on the basis of year end final theory exam in respective subjects. | |
| (c) Class X Theory Marks | |
| Computation of Class X theory marks shall be based on average theory marks obtained by the student(s) in best three performing subjects out of main 5 subjects. This average will be uniformly awarded to all the Class XII subjects based on theory weightage. | |
| To facilitate ease in entering the theory marks of Class X, the Board will provide the marks for the students who have appeared in CBSE Class X examinations. For students of other Boards, the schools will have to enter the information based on the Class X mark-sheets of the students available with schools. | |
| 4 | constitution of result committee |
| Each school shall form a Result Committee of 5 members. | |
| 5 | assessment moderation of class xi and class xii component |
| As marks of Class XI and Class XII component will be awarded at school level, they will strictly not be comparable across schools due to the variations in the quality of question papers, the evaluation standard and processes, the mode of conduct of exams, etc. Therefore, to ensure standardisation, each school will have to internally moderate the marks to account for t | |
