Declare boards marks scheme in 10 days, SC directs states

ANDHRA RELENTS TOO

Declare boards marks scheme in 10 days, SC directs states

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:25.06.2021 

As all states except Andhra Pradesh agreed to cancel their Class 12 board examinations due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed them to formulate their scheme for internal assessment of students within 10 days and declare the results by the end of July. Andhra too, later in the day, scrapped board examinations for Class 10 and intermediate.

A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari approved the decision taken by states and questioned the Andhra government for insisting on conducting the examination, which could expose students to the virus. “We direct all the state boards to ensure that the schemes are formulated and notified not later than10 days and also declare results of internal assessment by July 31,” the bench said.

As the bench was not satisfied with the response of Andhra government’s advocate Mahfooz A Nazki, it directed him to provide all the details on Friday on how the exam for six subjects would be conducted while following Covid norms.

The bench made it clear to the state that it would pass order to scrap the proposed exam if it was not satisfied with its response. It also said the state will be held responsible in case of any fatality of students if it decided to conduct the exam. It said going by the compensation amount paid by some state governments, the Andhra government may also have to pay compensation of Rs 1 crore in case of death of any student. On Thursday evening, education minister A Suresh said the state had decided to cancel the exams as it was difficult to adhere to the SC-set July 31 deadline for completing the process.