CBSE, ICSE marking scheme fair and reasonable

New Delhi, June 22: The Supreme Court has said that the marking scheme for Class 12 students by the CBSE and ICSE is fair and reasonable.

The observation was made by the court while rejecting all challenges to the decision by the CBSE and ICSE conducting the Class 12 board exams. The court further affirmed that the assessment schemes and timeline for optional exams has been given between August 15 and September 15. The Centre informed the court that the UGC will instruct the colleges to take into account the itineraries.

In affidavit the court was told that the optional Class 12 Board Exams for those students not satisfied with their assessment would be held anytime between August 15 and September 15.

The CBSE in an affidavit told the court that the result on basis of its assessment policy will be declared by July end, following which it will provide online facility for registration for the optional exams for those students who are not satisfied with their results.

The board however added that the exam will be conducted only in the man subjects and the marks obtained by a candidate in this exam will be treated as final.

The board said that the tabulation of marks for Class 12 board exams has been formulated to ensure standardisation of marks, as the marks of Class 11 and 12 component will be awarded at the school level and hence they will strictly not be comparable across schools.

"Therefore, to ensure standardisation, each school will have to internally moderate the marks to account for school level variations by using a reliable reference standard. This is necessary in the interest of fairness and to ensure that the marks allocated are comparable and there is no adverse impact or undue gain for any student," the affidavit filed by the board said.

Last week the CBSE and CISCE placed before the Supreme Court the evaluation criteria for awarding marks to the Class 12 students. The CBSE and CISCE had cancelled the Class 12 2021 exams in view of the ongoing pandemic.

Attorney General, K K Venugopal told the court that the historical performance of a school in Class 12 board for the last few years, overall percentage of marks obtained by students in the past year's board exams will be taken into account for moderation purpose.