The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry will not intervene in the moderation policy row, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Sunday. Any “change” should not be “abruptly” implemented in the middle of an academic session, he added.
Moderation policy refers to a practice in which students get extra marks in subjects regarded ‘unusually difficult’, or if there have been differences in the sets of question papers.
“We will not intervene in the moderation policy issue. It is an academic call which the boards need to take,” Mr. Javadekar told PTI in an interview.
The HRD Minister’s comments came against the backdrop of an order by the Delhi High Court directing the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to continue with the moderation policy, which was scrapped last month after the CBSE, along with 32 other boards, formed a consensus on the issue.
The CBSE was earlier believed to have been considering challenging the high court order, but was advised against it by a legal counsel that moving the Supreme Court may be counter-productive and could also delay results.
While the CBSE declared its results for Class XII examination on May 28, 2017, after following the moderation policy, there is no clarity about the fate of the six State boards — Rajasthan, Karnataka, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Haryana — which announced their result prior to the Delhi HC order as their students may suffer in undergraduate admissions.
“Boards had taken a decision in consultation with each other, they will decide further. But I believe that for any change to be implemented, it is not wise to do it abruptly mid way but from next academic year,” he said.
The Delhi High Court had also said that the decision by the CBSE “would have a drastic effect on the students” and “rules can’t change once the game has begun.”
