CBSE, ICSE Exams 2022: SC turns down petition seeking hybrid option for term-1 exams

CBSE term 1 exam 2022: Supreme Court  on Thursday refused to interfere with CBSE, ICSE's decision to hold class 10th and class 12th exams physically. This happened while Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by students seeking 10th, 12th Term 1 exams to be conducted in hybrid mode. The matter was heard by a bench of Justice D Y Chandrachud. As per the latest updates, Supreme Court has turned down the petition saying, "This last minute business has to be discouraged..At this level giving hope to students have to be discouraged"

Supreme Court on CBSE plea

The Court further directed not to mess with the education system. The court emphasised the fact that for benefit of students changes have been made. The exam time has been reduced to 90 minutes and the centres have also been increased. The Court said that it cannot intervene at this limited stage.

Petition details

This petition was filed after CBSE, ICSE announced that it will be conducting Board Exams 2022 for Term 1 in offline mode across exam centres. The petition was filed by a group of 6 students who challenged this decision. It said that if exams are conducted in offline mode, it may increase the risk of COVID-19 infection among students. The petition also highlighted the point that this age group is more vulnerable as they have not been vaccinated yet. 

Central Board of Secondary Education is already conducting exams in offline mode. Class 12th exams have been started on November 16, whereas class 10th exams have been started on November 17, 2021. The students as well as teachers, staff members have strictly been told to follow all the COVID guidelines and maintain social distancing.

CISCE takes a u-turn on conducting online exam

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) had earlier announced to conduct the semester exams for ICSE and ISC students in an online mode. However, after receiving several requests from the parents of some students demanding to conduct the exams in offline mode, changed CISCE's decision. Some of the major concerns raised by the parents were the non-availability of devices, irregular power supply, and network and bandwidth problems. CISCE through its latest notice announced that ICSE, ISC Semester 1 exam will be held in offline mode and will begin in November 2021. The Class 10 Board Exams will start on November 29 and ISC Class 12 Board Exams will begin on November 22, 2021.