Delhi High Court dismissed a PIL on Friday that claimed poor children in classes 10 and 12 at government schools would be unable to afford board exam fees and asked the AAP government to pay as it had in the past.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh ruled that there was no right to a full or partial waiver of CBSE Class XII & CBSE Class X examination fees and that it was up to the government to decide whether to foot the bill based on the facts and circumstances of each year, as well as the administration's other priorities.
The court stated that it was not inclined to order the government to waive the exam fees entirely or partially and saw no reason to hear the petition. "The petition is dismissed with these observations," it said.
The petition was filed by an organization named Parents Forum for Meaningful Education, which claimed that the CBSE "arbitrarily" raised exam fees in 2019-20 and planned to do so again in 2020-21, despite the fact that everyone has been financially impacted by the pandemic.
In recent news, CBSE Schools Postpone Board Practical Exams For Covid-Positive Students. The practical examination of such students will be rescheduled to be taken place in the month of April.
CBSE Exam Fee 2021: What Lies Ahead?
The Delhi government paid the exam fees for students in classes 10 and 12 in its schools in 2019-20, and assured parents that the issue would be resolved in the future, according to the society's petition.
In another similar case, the government told the court that it would be unable to foot the bill in 2020-21, as it did last year, because the amount was more than Rs 100 crore.
According to the society's petition, CBSE charges INR 1,500 as board exam fees for classes 10 and 12, with the amount increasing to Rs 2,400 for science stream students who also have practicals.
The petition contended that, in the current situation, parents of children enrolled in government schools may be unable to pay such sums all at once. "It has emerged that respondent 2 (the Delhi government) has not only failed to resolve the matter as promised last year, but has also refused to meet the steep fee obligation this year, thereby abandoning lakhs of children in class 10 and 12 in its schools," the petition stated.
The petition also requested the creation of an empowered committee to investigate CBSE's fixation of exam fees for students in Delhi government schools and to ensure that such children "receive the minimum learning environment and opportunity for equal chances of success at the board examination."
In a press note released yesterday, CBSE informed the public that it will be issuing Migration Certificate Hard Copies only on request from this year onwards.
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