The high court on Wednesday asked the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) to allow 76 Class X students of St Augustine’s Day School Calcutta to write their board examination in 2024 from any other council-affiliated school.
The cost of registration of the students for the board exams will have to be borne by St Augustine’s Day School Calcutta, the court said.
“The court is issuing an order asking the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) to approve the registration of the 76 Class X candidates of St Augustine’s Day School Calcutta and allow them to write the (board) examination from any other affiliated school. The cost of registration of the candidates would be borne by the authorities of St. Augustine’s Day School Calcutta. This order cannot be used as a precedent by the school in the future,” Justice Biswajit Basu said.
The council’s lawyer, Sanjay Vaid, submitted before the court names of 10 schools from where the students could appear for the board exams.
The CISCE will consult the authorities of the 10 schools and recommend to the students where they can appear for the exams.
On Wednesday, the court was hearing a case moved by parents of some Class X students who were apprehensive that their children might not be allowed to appear in the 2024 board exams because they had not been registered for the exam.
In a previous hearing, a lawyer representing the school had admitted that St Augustine’s Day School Calcutta did not have affiliation with the CISCE.
Apart from the parents of the 76 Class X candidates who filed the petition in Calcutta High Court, the parents of four other candidates had filed a separate similar petition.
While the 76 students had produced documents that they are “bona-fide students” of the school, the other four are yet to do so. The court asked the parents of the four to submit the documents to the council’s lawyer.
The court was trying to expedite the process so students can appear for the pre-board exams in November.
Appearing on behalf of the school, advocate Jayanta Mitra informed the court that classes in the school have been shifted to a new building so the court should ask the CISCE to conduct an inspection and withdraw the cancellation of the school’s affiliation. The court said this would be decided later.
The affiliation was withdrawn by the CISCE following concerns over the safety of the building.