ISE Council offers students two options for pending board papers

Bombay HC is hearing a petition challenging the Council�s decision to conduct the exams in July. File pic

In a major development for students of Indian Certificate of Secondary Education ICSE Class X, the Council for ICSE has decided to offer two options - either appear for the examination as per the given schedule of July or opt for a result based on an internal assessment or pre-board examinations taken by the respective schools in those subjects.

The Council presented the options to the Bombay High Court, which is hearing a petition challenging the Council-s decision to conduct the examination in the month of July.

Later in the day, on Monday, the Council issued circular giving details regarding its stand in the court. The circular, signed by the Chief Executive and Secretary of the Council, Gerry Arathoon, states, "The paramount interest of the Council is to protect the safety, wellbeing and academic endeavours of students sitting for the ICSE and ISC examinations. The Council has decided to offer all students in India and abroad with ICSE and ISC examinations pending in some subjects the option to either take the pending exam in July as per the time table issued on May 22 or have their final results in subjects where examinations have not been held, based on their performance in the internal assessment or pre-board examinations conducted by their own schools along with results of board papers in subjects already taken in accordance with such methodology as may be prescribed by the Council."

The circular adds that students and their parents are expected to submit their decision in writing to the respective schools before June 22. Moreover, the circular also mentions that if for any reason it is not possible to conduct any or all of the final examination papers in July 2020, then the Council shall declare the final results of the students in those subjects for which examinations could not be conducted based on the second option offered in the first scenario.

Meanwhile, the HC has also asked Maharashtra state government to respond if it is in a position to permit the Council to hold examinations in July. "This was stated after the Council argued that the state governments per se have no control over this centralised board. Meanwhile, the HC has also mentioned how there are more similar petitions challenging the ICSE board examination in July and all are going to be clubbed as an intervention in the same case in the next hearing on Wednesday," said Arvind Tiwari, a lawyer who has filed the petition challenging the exams He also said it was now important to see the state government-s response on Wednesday.

Reacting to the options, Herald Saldanha, a concerned parent, said, "This is unfair as it is difficult to select between the two. The second option suggests that pre-board examination marks will be considered if we opt out of the exam. But they purposely had strict evaluation during the prelim examinations because schools wanted children to prepare more before the final examination."

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