No stay on school admissions, says HC
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to clarify how many compulsory languages that standard tenth students —- of SSC, ICSE and CBSE boards—- should be taught.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice A P Deshpande asked the government to submit details of the total score, for which each of the boards conducted the tenth standard examinations. The Court was hearing the petition filed by Fransico Luis, a parent of an ICSE Board student, who was aggrieved by the percentile system introduced this year by the Maharashtra Government. The court, while adjourning the hearing of the PIL to July 17, however, refused to stay the school admission process.
State government pleader Jyoti Pawar told the court that the students who passed the examination conducted by the SSC Board were facing difficulties in securing admissions when compared to the students who passed the other boards’ exams.
According to an affidavit filed by Anil Bhattalwar, Deputy Secretary, School Education and Sports Department, the government devised this formula after consulting with experts “to overcome the comparative disparity”.
“Is it fair for you to say that the SSC students will be given preference over ICSE and CBSE students,” the Chief Justice asked.
But, Pawar said the students of the SSC Board appeared for a total score of 650 marks, while the CBSE and the ICSE Board exams were for 500 marks. She further said other boards were lenient in the evaluation of the papers. The SSC Board papers are examined very strictly. Luis argued that the syllabi of the ICSE and the CBSE Board exams were approved by the NCERT, which made many reforms while the SSC Board had not incorporated any reforms.
More : expressindia.com