Kriti Agrawal
The Maharashtra government’s April 2021 decision to cancel this year’s class 10 SSC exams due to rising Covid-19 cases has been challenged in the Bombay High Court.
The petition questioned ICSE and CBSE board decisions to cancel class 10 exams.
According to the PIL filed by a Pune resident and retired professor Dhananjay Kulkarni via advocate Uday Warunjikar, the government decision would result in utter absurdity because unequal would be treated equally if results were based on percentile or best of five formulae.
The petition stated that, if the state board of higher and secondary education conducts the Class 12 test, which will be taken by nearly 14 lakh students across the state then there is no reason to cancel the Class 10 exams, which will be taken by more than 16 lakh state board students as well as students from other boards.
In the petition, Kulkarni also claims that the decision not to conduct exams for Class 10 would have an effect on admissions to diploma courses, which have 11.5 lakh seats, as well as the diploma in pharmacy program.
The petition goes on to say that while the state has stated that it will come up with a standard formula for all boards, it has yet to do so, and that if the plan to conduct an entrance test for admission to class 11 can be implemented, there is no reason why the class 10 exams cannot be conducted as well.
In light of these allegations, the petition sought to quash and set aside the state government’s decision to cancel the Class 10 SSC exams, as well as a stay on the decision’s implementation pending the outcome of the hearing.
The petition also asks the Centre to provide instructions to conduct class 10 exams across boards using a consistent formula to prevent student misunderstanding.
Despite the fact that the PIL was scheduled to be heard before a bench of the High Court on Thursday, it will most likely be heard next week due to the recusal of the bench.