Class 12 results to be declared on Sunday

NEW DELHI:The Class 12 examination results of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will be released on Sunday.

CBSE chairman RK Chaturvedi declared this on Friday, adding that the board “will follow the moderation policy, as enshrined in rule number 59 of examination bylaws of the CBSE”.

However, conditions apply. “We have decided to abide by the high court directive but there will be no ‘artificial’ spiking of marks — as was decided in an April board meeting,” a board official said, adding that this could result in “a slight dip in scores”.

The moderation policy refers to a practice where students are given extra marks in subjects regarded as unusually difficult, or when there are variations in question paper sets. However, it was noted such marks are doled out in excess — resulting in a spike in the overall score and high admission cutoffs.

Union human resources development minister Prakash Javadekar assured Class 12 students on Thursday the results would be declared on time, despite a high court directive that the moderation policy be applied for this academic session. The CBSE had earlier decided on dropping the policy to “remove arbitrariness and inflation of marks”.

Sources said CBSE authorities considered challenging the high court order, but were told by legal advisers that such an action could end up delaying the results.

Over 18,000 schools across the country are affiliated to the CBSE. As many as 10,98,891 candidates – 6,38,865 boys and 4,60,026 girls – from 10,678 schools registered for the exam this year.

Last year, results were announced on May 21.