THE Supreme Court Friday said it would hear on May 31 a petition seeking cancellation of the class XII Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) exams in view of the second wave of Covid19..A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari asked the petitioner to serve a copy of their petition to the CBSE so that it can respond on the next date of hearing.."Please be optimistic. There may be some resolution by Monday.," the bench remarked after noting that a decision regarding the CBSE XII exams was likely to be taken by the Centre on June 1.The plea filed by advocate Mamta Sharma prayed to the court to issue directions to the boards to cancel the examinations and devise an objective methodology to declare the results within a specific time frame..On May 22, the Education Ministry and the Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) had put forth two options to conduct the CBSE Class XII exams..The first option provides that the entire process of the examinations can be shortened by conducting them for major subjects only for Class XII, in the existing format, so that the declaration of results can be done within two months; the examination will be conducted in the designated examination centres; for minor subjects in class XII, marks can be calculated as per the assessment scheme based on the performance in the major subjects..In second option, the centre has suggested the examinations be conducted in self-centres i.e. in the same schools where the students are enrolled, to ensure their safety. Thus, the number of centres will be doubled..It adds that the examination will be for a short duration, that is, of one and half hours only instead of three hours..Besides, it proposes that the Class XII examinations will be conducted only for a major subject. The students have to appear in one language and three elective subjects only. Based on their performance in these subjects, the result of 5th and 6th subjects , as the case may be, will be decided..The question paper will cover the prescribed syllabus in each subject and will be of multiple option type. These will be based on the existing pattern of objective and very short answer type questions..The examinations could be conducted two times by the Board. Whenever the conditions are conducive, examinations could commence from a suitable date. In the remaining locations, the examinations will start after a fortnight of the first phase..In the event a student is not able to appear in the scheduled exam due to any Covid related matter, they will be provided with another opportunity.The Centre's proposals was deliberated on May 23 at a high-level meeting with the states and union territories where they were asked to send in their written views..It is learnt that the Centre will soon announce its decision in the matter.
