The Supreme Court is set to hear a petition on Tuesday seeking changes in the datesheet for CBSE Class 12 exams for Private, Patrachar and second compartment students, in order to avoid a clash with other competitive exams.
The Supreme Court is set to hear a petition on Tuesday seeking changes in the datesheet for CBSE Class 12 exams for Private, Patrachar and second compartment students, in order to avoid a clash with other competitive exams including medical entrance exam NEET.
Besides, the petition has sought a direction to ensure that colleges, universities and other educational institutions take admissions of Private, Patrachar and second compartment students on a provisional basis, confirmation of which will be subject to declaration of their results. The prayer advocated against rejecting candidature of such students due to delayed results or documents.
The plea will come up for hearing before Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice Sanjiv Khanna.
Advocate Mamta Sharma, who had earlier sought a review of the top court's order dismissing a related petition, urged that the University Grants Commission (UGC) should extend admission timelines to ensure parity among students.
"Admission timelines must be extended by UGC as well as other higher education institutions to ensure that CBSE Private students don't miss out the opportunity to take admission in the current academic year. Justice must prevail in all circumstances without discrimination," Sharma told India TV.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) began exams for CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 Compartment and Improvement students on August 25, and will conclude the process on September 15. Meanwhile, aspirants of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) are urging postponement of the medical entrance, citing a clash with the CBSE board improvement, compartment exams, other entrance exams. The National Testing Agency (NTA), however, said it will not postpone the exam since it was not a "direct clash".
CBSE Class 12 students have Biology exam scheduled on September 6, Physics on September 9, two major science papers in the same week of NEET exam. Other entrance exams like AP EAMCET are slated to be conducted on September 3, 6 and 7, while Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) exam is scheduled from September 7 to 9.
Sukhpal Singh Toor, founder of the NCR Parents' Association, opined that NEET-UG should be postponed for at least two weeks.
"Since the CBSE exam schedule is already approved by SC, hence NEET UG should be postponed by atleast 2 weeks. Although technically exams are not on same day, however, some students have distance of hundred of kilometers between both the centres (CBSE & NEET), hence it will be difficult to make logistic arrangements for them. Moreover, the exam pattern is totally different for CBSE and NEET-UG, hence students will have to be mentally prepared for same. The new NEET-UG pattern needs due time to practice," Toor said.
The education activist had earlier submitted a letter petition to CJI N.V. Ramana on behalf of 825 CBSE Private students requesting to defer NEET-UG, JEE and other competitive exams for a few weeks.