The Supreme Court of India has been served a petition by students against sitting for their exams amid a pandemic. The students argued that it would lead to health risks if the board insisted on doing the exams, as the country continues to battle coronavirus.
A total of 809 Indian students have filed a petition in the Supreme Court asking them to reconsider the educaiton department’s decision to conduct CBSE Compartment Exams this year. The students indicated that the petition was filed in the best interest of the students who were due to take the exam.
The Compartment Exams is administered to class 10 and 12 students who failed to qualify in at least one subject. The current number of students who have been listed by the board as having to retake some of their exams totals 150,198. These students were required to have sat for their CBSE exams in July, but due to the spread of coronavirus, the exams had been pushed back, until now.
Students Supreme Court petition
The students argued that the Supreme Court needed to consider the rising cases of coronavirus in the country. They argued that the country needed to first curb the virus, which has been rising steadily in the country before they can consider going back to school or even doing exams. The Supreme Court was challenged to put the safety of the student first when making the decision.
In their submission to the Supreme Court, students also cited the Bihar and Telangana board which had canceled all their exams. They commended the decision by this board to cancel the exams and urged the Supreme Court to consider their reasoning on why they canceled their exams. The Bihar and Telangana board had indicated that they were canceling their exams due to the rising number of coronavirus cases in India.
Sandeep Saurav, the National General Secretary of All India Students’ Association filed the petition and made arguments on behalf of students he represents that it was a bad idea to continue with the exams. Sandeep highlighted that conduction of the exams amidst a global pandemic posed major health risks and therefore the exams should be canceled.
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