Final call on CBSE 12th exams not today
Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will not take a final call on Class12 board examinations today, a Board official told NDTV. “The matter is sub-judice in Supreme Court,” the official said adding that the Board will submit their response in the Supreme Court. “Like last year, we will file their reply in court.” Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank' had earlier said that an “informed, collaborative” decision will be taken by June 1. Get quick latest updates about 12th board exams through SMS/E-mail. Click here to Subscribe.
The Supreme Court was informed on Monday that the government will take a final decision within the next two days on whether to conduct Class 12 board exams amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. "Give us time till Thursday and Government will come with a final decision,” Attorney General K Venugopal told a special bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari.
The top court was hearing a petition by advocate Mamta Sharma seeking scrapping of exams in the present COVID-19 situation.
The top court directed the Centre to give “tangible reasons” if they decide to depart from the last year's policy, wherein the remaining board exams were cancelled due to the pandemic,
“You are free to take whatever decision. But there is hope expressed by the petitioner that policy adopted last year can be adopted this year too," said the Bench.
"If Government is departing from last year decision then give tangible reasons," it added.
According to PTI sources, the CBSE has proposed conducting exams between July 15 and August 26 and the result to be declared in September. The board also proposed two options: conducting regular exams for 19 major subjects at notified centres or conducting shorter duration exams at respective schools where students are enrolled.
With the majority of the states in favour of Board exams 2021, the Education Ministry had sought detailed suggestions from states by May 25.
After the meeting on May 23, Mr Pokhriyal said, “The meeting was extremely fruitful as we received immensely valuable suggestions. I have requested the state governments to send me their detailed suggestions by May 25. I am confident we will be able to arrive at an informed, collaborative decision regarding the exams and remove the uncertainty among student's and parent's minds by informing them of our final decision at the earliest.”
The minister said the decision will be taken by June 1.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh chaired the meeting which was held to decide on the proposal to conduct Class 12 board exams that were postponed due to the second wave of COVID-19.
Union ministers Smriti Irani, Prakash Javadekar and Sanjay Dhotre also attended the meeting, besides education ministers and secretaries of several states and union territories.