Re-evaluate answer sheets, HC tells CBSE

Chennai, 01-03-2013: About 8.5 lakhs students writing the plus two exam (HSC) which starts on 1st March 2013 on Friday all over Tamil Nadu. The single unified stream leading to the award of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) will be issued by the Tamil Nadu State Board of School of Examinations. The Tamil Nadu State Board of School Examination evaluates students' progress by conducting board examinations other at the end of class 12. The scores from the class 12 board examinations are used by universities to determine eligibility and as a cut-off for admissions into their programmes.Schools can choose to affiliate themselves to the Tamil Nadu Board of Secondary Education or to other boards-the CBSE or the ICSE-that are authorized to conduct secondary (class 10) and higher secondary (class 12) final examinations and award certificates to successful candidate. H.S.S. Lawrence is regarded in Tamil Nadu to be the Architect of Higher Secondary Education in Tamil Nadu. As Special Officer for restructuring Educational Pattern in Tamil Nadu and as Director of School Education, Dr. Lawrence planned and implemented the all India 10+1+2 pattern of education in 1978. Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

In a significant order, the Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to re-evaluate the answer sheets of all subjects of all students who wrote the Class XII examination this year and seek re-evaluation.

The CBSE has been directed to give benefit of the scheme of scrutiny to students who have a grievance that their answer books have not been checked as per the marking scheme.

A Bench said “the relief is not confined only to the petitioners and shall be admissible to all the similarly situated students.”

“The CBSE shall conduct the re-evaluation of the answer sheets of the petitioners as have been applied for by them without the prohibition contained in condition numbers (i), (iii) and (vii) of the notice dated June 28, 2017.

“The CBSE shall accept all applications for re-evaluation in all the subjects which the petitioners may apply for and conduct the re-evaluation forthwith,” the Bench said in an interim order.

The court’s direction came on a plea filed by four students against the CBSE’s June 28 notice imposing conditions that the right of applying for scrutiny was limited to 12 subjects only and up to 10 questions per subject.

The notice had also said that a revised mark sheet would be issued only if the marks increased by five or were reduced by one.

These are the three conditions which the court said would not apply when a student seeks re-evaluation of his or her answer sheets.