Mumbai: “You have exercised your option (for school exams) with open eyes,” the Bombay High Court on Monday reminded a CBSE student who had sought orders that would allow her to apply for the online admissions to first year junior college.
“If you wanted to take admission in a good college, why did you take the option of school exams?” asked a division bench of Justice D K Deshmukh and Justice Rajesh Ketkar.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Shruti Mathuria, a student of Rajhans Vidyalay, who scored 93% in her Standard X exams in CBSE. She had approached the court saying her chances of admission to top colleges in Mumbai had been affected due to the controversy over board exams versus school exams. Mathuria’s lawyer Aniket Nikam said the school had issued a letter to students saying both board exams and school exams would be treated on par. He sought time to furnish the document.
But the judges said that if they wanted an adjournment, the girl’s parents would have to pay a Rs 10,000 fine for wasting the time of the court. Arguing his case before the bench, Nikam said: “This is a question of the careers of thousands of CBSE students.” The judges replied: “Don’t think you are a leader for the students,” said the HC.
The state’s advocate said this year that around 1.24 lakh students had applied for admissions online. “Already, 50% of the admissions are finalized, and the first list will be out on Tuesday,” the advocate said. In fact, in August 2010 a circular had been issued laying down the difference between school-based and board exams. Nikam had argued that students were given to understand that both exams would be treated at par: “The papers for the school exams are set by the board, vetted by the board and even the mark-sheet is issued by the board.”
To which, the judges asked: “If you have appeared for CBSE exams, why do you now want to go for the state board?” The next hearing is scheduled on July 13.
School Versus Board Exam T he CBSE had introduced a new system of examination called comprehensive and continuous education (CCE) where 60% of the marks would be awarded by the school and the remaining 40% would be based on internal school exams or board exams depending upon what the student opted for. Students who appeared for school exams instead of the boards cannot participate in the online admission s to state-run colleges. They will get the chance to apply to junior colleges only once the online process is completed.
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