Nagpur: The Nagpur divisional board has decided to reject this year’s HSC (Std XII) examination forms of candidates who cleared their SSC backlog in November 2020. With Allowed To Keep Term (ATKT) rule in place, many students clear their Std XI final exams and SSC backlog in the summer months itself thus transiting to Std XII without a hitch.
Due to lockdown last year, the July SSC exam was held in October and results declared in November. Board says session for Std XII had already started by then and thus these students are ineligible to appear for HSC in 2021. Teachers say this interpretation is wrong because exam delay was not the fault of students, hence they should be allowed to appear for HSC this summer itself.
Madhuri Sawarkar, secretary of Nagpur divisional board, said, “The rules say once the backlog is clear, students can appear in the next academic session. The results came in November, which means the next academic session will be 2021-22. That’s why we have asked these students to apply for HSC 2022 exam.”
Vidarbha Junior College Teachers Association (VJUCTA) is, however, not convinced. Ashok Gavhankar, general secretary of the association, said this problem has come to fore only because of Covid-19 lockdown.
“Had it been a normal year, these students would have appeared for the supplementary exam in July and continued easily with Std XII. But it was the government’s decision to delay the exam till October, thus eating into their academic session. It’s a mere technicality and we are of the opinion that board officials must not allow an entire year to be wasted because of it,” said Gavhankar.
Sawarkar said she was aware of VJUCTA’s concerns but this was not a decision that can be taken at Nagpur. “We are state government employees and have to abide by the rules. The wording in the ATKT rule is very clear that student becomes eligible in the next academic session only. I understand teachers are worried about students but I do not have the authority to change the rule,” she said.
VJUCTA is planning on speaking with the state education minister Varsha Gaikwad about this. “We are coordinating with others and shall take this up at the highest level. Our concern is only that students must not suffer,” said Gavhankar.
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