Supreme Court to re-examine new NIOS Class 10th & 12th 2020 result assessment methodology

The new method adopted by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) to assess the performance of Class 10 and 12 students in the past three public examinations has caught the attention of the Supreme Court. As per the new scheme, a student’s marks will be assessed based on the performance of other students. The SC has agreed to inspect the scheme on Friday.

The new assessment scheme was issued on July 10 after remaining exams for Class 10 and 12 scheduled to commence from July 17 were cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Advocate Rishi Malhotra presented the petition on behalf of a Chennai student who scored 97 and 93 marks in the two exams taken last year. The boy had given two exams (Mathematics, Data Entry Operation) in October 2019 and had registered for the remaining three subjects (English, Accountancy, Science & Technology) to be held in March/April this year.

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Scheme unfair to bright students 

Explaining the scheme and alleging it was unfair to a three-judge bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar, Malhotra said, the NIOS will award marks to students by taking an average of the last 3 results of the same cancelled subjects which have been performed by other students. The aspect of the assessment method was never reviewed by the court when it allowed NIOS to go ahead with the scheme. The scheme was not challenged entirely as students who had appeared for three or four exams were being assessed on the best two performances.

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For a student who has topped each subject by securing more than 95% marks to be now told that he would be awarded marks based on the performance of other students would only cause distress, anxiety and lesser marks, the petitioner said.

The bench agreed to examine this aspect and served the petition on the NIOS through its counsel present in Supreme Court. The matter has been slated for hearing on Friday, July 31. The petitioner urged the Court to award him marks based on his performance in the past two subjects. The student’s mother demanded that the theory papers that got cancelled should be assessed based on performance in internal assessment.

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(Image credits: PTI)