HC pulls up CBSE for arbitrarily changing weightage formula for Class 12
CBSE issued a circular on July 5, 2021, that an equal weightage of 50-50 will be given to the Term I and Term II (theory) exams of Class 12th in academic year 2021-22; it was recommended on July 21, 2022, a day prior to the declaration of results, that the weightage formula should be 30-70
The Delhi High Court on Friday (August 26) pulled up the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for arbitrariness and lapse on its part in keeping the class XII students in the dark and not informing them in advance about the change in weightage formula for the preparation of the final result.
While the CBSE had issued a circular on July 5, 2021, that an equal weightage of 50-50 per cent will be given to the Term I and Term II (theory) exams of Class 12th in the academic year 2021-22, it was recommended on July 21, 2022, a day prior to the declaration of results, that the weightage formula should be 30-70 per cent.
The high court said there are glaring lapses and a lackadaisical approach adopted by the board and this tantamounts to changing the rules of race after the race has ended and as such is outrageously arbitrary.
New formula
It added that there was nothing on record to suggest that any such order had been passed by the Chairperson/competent authority of CBSE accepting, enforcing, and notifying the recommendation regarding the new weightage formula.
Accordingly, merely on the basis of the recommendation of the committee, the competent authority decided to prepare the final result for Class XII and Class X by giving the weightage to Term-I at 30 per cent (for theory papers) and Term-II at 70 per cent (for theory papers). In a matter of hours, the result of lakhs of students was prepared and published the very next day, that is, on July 22, 2022, Justice Chandra Dhari Singh said.
The high court, in its judgement, said the factum of the recommendation and its acceptance was kept a secret from the public and students at large, until the fag end and the students were informed about it only on the day the results were declared.
This clearly shows the arbitrariness and lapse on the part of the board to keep the students in the dark about the weightage formula adopted for the preparation of the final result. This tantamounts to changing the rules of race after the race has ended and as such are outrageously arbitrary, the judge said.
Student’s plea
The judgment came while deciding a plea by a student, who assailed her class 12th result declared by the board and sought to declare her result in terms of the July 2021 circular which mandated equal weightage of the theory papers for Term 1 and Term 2.
The court allowed the prayer directing the board to declare the result of the petitioner in terms of the July 2021 circular, providing for the Special Scheme of Assessment which mandates equal weightage to theory papers for Term-I and Term-II while computing the result.
CBSE is accordingly directed to calculate and declare the result of the petitioner as per the formula as declared in the original scheme dated July 5, 2021. The revised result/ mark sheet thus prepared shall be uploaded, as expeditiously as possible, preferably within two working days from the date of this judgement, on the DigiLocker for ensuring access to the petitioner, it said.
The court said it was not interfering with the revised weightage formula in the larger interest of students as in the academic session 2021-22, around 14 lakhs students appeared for the CBSE Class-XII board examinations, whose results have been prepared and declared in accordance with revised weightage formula.
