Class 12 exam issue likely to face SC test

But CBSE maintains results will be on time

NEWDELHI: The announcement of CBSE’s Class 12 exam results could be delayed as the board will challenge a Delhi high court order asking it to continue with a marking policy that it decided to nix last month.

The country’s biggest school board decided on Wednesday to file a “special leave petition” in the Supreme Court against the high court verdict.

The CBSE results are expected between May 25 and May 27 as these are traditionally announced around this time of the year. The board said the results won’t be delayed but didn’t specify how they will do it.

The board’s appeal in the top court is unlikely to be filed before Saturday.

“Depending on the outcome, a decision on the results will be taken. All attempts are being made that the results are not delayed,” a source said.

The CBSE’s decision to go to the top court could affect students of eight state boards, including Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, which have declared their results. Some of these boards didn’t follow the moderation system, which refers to manipulation of marks from the total score of students based on factors such as difficult question papers.

The students from these boards might lose out to their peers from the Central Board of Secondary Education on grades or pass percentage should the Supreme Court decide to go with the high court’s verdict.

The Class 12 finals are considered a stepping stone to higher education because students secure admission to universities, including the popular Delhi University, based on their board scores. The pressure to secure high marks raises students’ anxiety. And the latest uncertainty over the marking system could increase their stress level.

Above all else, a delay in the CBSE results could affect Delhi University’s admission process, beginning this June, for the next academic year.

A million students from 10,678 schools wrote the CBSE Class 12 finals this year.

The trouble began after the CBSE and state boards decided this April to do away with the moderation policy. But the high court directed the CBSE this Monday to put off the decision for this academic year.

The board then sought legal opinion, and decided to appeal in the Supreme Court after a meeting chaired by human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar. The CBSE adopted moderation in 1992.

But some boards used the policy to increase marks, thereby increasing the overall pass percentage. The scores triggered abnormally high cut-offs — sometimes touching 100% — for subjects such as mathematics and history during admission to sought-after colleges.