Supreme Court bench led by Justice AM Khanwilkar will hear plea against holding board exams offline

The Supreme Court on Monday said that the petition by school students against holding board exams for classes 10 and 12 via physical/ offline mode, will be listed before a bench led by Justice AM Khanwilkar [Anubha Shrivastava Sahai vs Union of India]..The plea filed by Students from over 15 States across the country was mentioned before Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana by advocate Prashant Padmanabhan. "This is regarding exam of class 10 and 12 students. Due to Covid, physical classes were not held," he said seeking urgent hearing. "Ok. This will be listed before a bench led by Justice AM Khanwilkar," the CJI replied.The petitioners have sought an alternative assessment method for upcoming board exams for classes 10 and 12 instead of holding physical exam as proposed by various State boards, Central Bureau of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE).The students, who have moved the plea though Child rights activist Anubha Shrivastava Sahai and Students Union of Odisha, have also prayed for directions to all boards for declaration of results on time and an option for improvement exam due to various challenges being faced by them.The petitioners pointed out that for CBSE, the board exams for classes 10 and 12 will be held in the last week of April.For ICSE and National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), there is no notification yet, the plea said.As far as State Boards are concerned some have declared the timetable while some are still holding discussions on the course of action, it was highlighted."The students are dissatisfied by this kind of behaviour of State government and other boards and stressed and worried about their future and career," the plea said.Pertinently, the plea highlighted the COVID-19 situation and the difficulties and pressures faced by students due to the interruptions in their schooling."The petitioners therefore submit that, in fact subjecting the children to write the examination and conducting the examination when the Covid-19 wave is still high, with the number of patients infected and death is rising day by day, when there are seen unprecedented mortality numbers, when the experts are predicting that third wave of resurgence likely to mostly affect children and young people, it will be violating their right to life," the petition stated.While education is important it is not more important than the lives and mental health of children, teachers, staff and parents of the children who will have to venture out to appear for physical exam, the plea added.The plea apart from seeking a direction not to hold exam via physical mode, also prayed for a direction to University Grants Commission to constitute a committee to declare the date for admission into various Universities and to work out a formula for assessment of Class XII students who want to pursue their further studies in non-professional courses.