No formula yet on marking Class 10 Maharashtra Board students

The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education on Monday told the Bombay High Court that it was yet to come up with a formula on how to evaluate and mark Class 10 students, whose board examinations were cancelled this year due to the pandemic.

A Division Bench of Justices S.J. Kathawall and S.P. Tavade was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Dhananjay Kulkarni challenging the Secondary School Certificate’s (SSC) decision to cancel the board examinations for Class 10. The PIL sought for a direction from the court to hold the examinations and not mark students without an assessment.

On April 20, State Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad released a statement that said, “With rising infections in the State and the country, and after national and international boards declared a cancellation of Class 10 exams, we have decided to cancel them. Students will be marked on the basis of their internal assessment.”

The advocate appearing for Mr. Kulkarni said since each board had a different marking system, students faced a lot of issues when they were applying for Class 11 and the Centre should have a uniform policy.

The Centre’s counsel, advocate Sandesh Patil, said the Centre did not have any control over the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) and the SSC boards as they were State subjects. He said the Center had an evolved mechanism and a notification had been sent to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The States could emulate their model to mark the students, he added.

The advocate representing the SSC board said the PIL was filed prematurely and it had not yet devised any formula on marking the students. However, the SSC’s examination committee would come up with a formula that would then be sent to the State government for final approval.

The court has directed the Centre, SSC, ICSE and CBSE to file their replies in the matter and adjourned it for May 19.