Bhubaneswar, May 13: Schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) have been instructed to allow students, who have taken provisional admission in Class XI, to continue with their choice of streams even if they fall short of the required marks to pursue the course.

The CBSE Class X results are expected to come out by the end of this month.

“We have received certain guidelines for admission from the board, which clearly states that schools cannot ask students to change their streams or subject combination in Class XI after the Class X results are declared,” said Sujata Sahoo, principal, DAV Public School, Pokhariput.

In a circular, issued to the schools, CBSE exam controller M.C. Sharma has referred to a case filed in Delhi High Court about the plight of a student, who had been given a particular combination of subjects, but later asked to pursue another combination.

The new set of guidelines have, therefore, been framed to “avoid hardship” on part of the students, if, in the Class X results, they fall short of the requisite marks to pursue a particular stream or choice of subjects.

“During the provisional admission into Class XI, the subjects are given to a student on the basis of his or her performance in the summative exams (earlier, pre-board exams). The board has now instructed that subjects once allotted should not be changed,” she said.

The schools have also been asked to adjust the fee already deposited by a student for the classes attended from the time of admission to announcement of results. Further, schools would have to bear the expenses to be incurred by a student for buying a second set of books and study materials for the allocated subject or stream.

“We have been asked to make arrangements for extra classes for students, who have lost out on some classes, without burdening him or her with any additional fee,” said K.C. Satpathy, principal of DAV Public School, Chandrasekharpur. Students are relieved with the CBSE’s decision. “I have opted for the science stream and was a little nervous about my results. But now, I can be rest assured that I can continue with the subjects allotted irrespective of the marks I get,” said Shreya, a Class XI student.

The circular also mentions that schools must ensure that while allocating subjects or streams to students in higher classes, the collective analysis sheets must be scrutinised properly and tallied at two separate levels to avoid discrepancies.