Do you think Covid situation is conducive for Class 10 exams, Bombay HC asks petitioner – The Indian Express

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday asked a petitioner, who had sought that SSC (Class 10) exams be held this year in state, if the present Covid situation in the country was conducive for the purpose, especially in the light of the threat of the “third wave”, which some experts fear might affect those between 10 and 18 years of age.

“You want exams to be held. Do you think the Covid situation this year is better than last year? The state has said that the current environment is not conducive for conducting examinations. Can we substitute the decision saying that the situation is fine and say that it is conducive to hold exams?” the bench asked the petitioner.

The division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish S Kulkarni, while hearing a PIL by Pune resident and retired professor Dhananjay Kulkarni, asked the petitioner to give substantial grounds to set aside the state’s decision to cancel the exams during the next hearing.

On May 28, Maharashtra government announced that Class 10 students will be evaluated through an internal assessment formula for the academic year 2020-21.

The state government said that admissions to Class 11 will be conducted physically through optional Common Entrance Test (CET) based on Class 10 syllabus and those unwilling to appear for it will be admitted on the basis of an aggregate of their Class 10 marks.

In an additional affidavit filed in reply to the PIL, the Maharashtra government on Monday told the High Court that Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams, taken by 16 lakh students, cannot be compared with Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC-Class 12) exams, taken by nearly 14 lakh students, as the latter were “relatively more important milestones” for students.

The Court granted liberty to petitioner to amend the plea and challenge the evaluation formula for Class 10.

HC posted further hearing on the PILs to Thursday, June 3.