Uniform exam schedule: School trustees decide to take edu dept to court

Nagpur: The uniform exam schedule declared by state education department, and mandated for all state board affiliated schools, will now face a legal battle as one of the most powerful schools association has decided to approach the high court.

Maharashtra Rajya Shikshan Sanstha Mahamandal (MRSSM), is a pan-Maharashtra organization of trusts which controls multiple schools and junior colleges. The association's sarkaryavah Ravindra Fadnavis confirmed to TOI that within a few days their legal team will be filing a petition before HC.

The bone of contention is a circular issued in February by State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), which directed all schools to conduct final exams of Classes 1-9 from April 8-25. A detailed timetable was also provided and result declaration date set for May 1.

Schools' objection was two-fold. First was that weather conditions in regions like Vidarbha and Marathwada were not conducive to conducting classes till late April. In Vidarbha, primary and middle schools wrap up their academic session by second week of April.

The second point of objection was that conducting internal examinations is in the purview of school management.

Fadnavis said that as per rules, it's the school management and parent-teachers association mutually set up a date and everything works accordingly. "SCERT has exceeded its brief by mandating a new academic schedule and taking decisions in their hands," said Fadnavis.

Another point raised by MRSSM was that as per RTE, schools must complete certain number of days, depending on the level of classes. Fadnavis said, "For primary it is around 200 days. Now if schools have already completed or on verge of completing the mandated days, why do we need to drag kids in beyond that limit back to classrooms?"