ICSE Students Are Truly Unfortunate Victims, Why Do Parents Send Children To ICSE Schools? Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday recorded the submissions made by all parties challenging the method of admission to professional and graduate courses offered by various Universities in the State in the present academic year, particularly in the entrance policy adopted for admission to Engineering Colleges in the State.  

Justice P. B Suresh Kumar reserved its order in the matter. The case will be taken up today for orders. 

However, during the elaborate proceedings, the Court sympathised with the plight of the ICSE students competing for limited seats at professional colleges based on their performance in Class XII.

He was informed that due to the moderation policy adopted by the ICSE Board, which is popular for its stringent grading system, many students had had their marks further reduced.

"ICSE students are truly unfortunate victims. Why do parents send their children to ICSE schools despite knowing that they will not be graded well?"

To this, the Counsel responded that CBSE and ICSE carried more 'national value' compared to the State Board.

The Court was not convinced with this submission, considering that a policy was already in place in the State where admission to engineering colleges gives equal weightage to marks scored in the 12th Board Exam and the entrance exam respectively. 

"Then shouldn't they be sending them to CBSE Schools? I find CBSE more liberal than the ICSE scheme. It may not make a difference to the extremely studious students, but the moderate students are caught in the crossfire; they suffer the most under this policy. I don't understand the advantage ICSE students have over CBSE students, particularly in this State where 50% of the marks awarded in the 12th Board Examinations decide your chance to be offered a seat for a professional course."

However, the Bench also noted the possible benefits of being tutored under the ICSE Board, speculating that perhaps such students might perform better in their undergraduate and postgraduate courses due to the advanced mode of teaching in these schools.

Recalling his own personal experiences, the Judge recognised that ICSE schools were glorified since his childhood days, possibly for being better equipped than other schools since their inception. 

"I attended a Malayalam medium school. When I was in Class 10th,  we had to walk past an ICSE school. I remember seeing a chemistry lab in that school and students learning with chemical equipment. Our school never even had a chemistry lab. Is the situation similar now?"

The Court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by ICSE and CBSE students who approached the Court challenging the evaluation criteria for admission to engineering colleges in Kerala whereby the marks scored by students in class 12 board exams are given equal weight along with the entrance examination score.

It was the case of the petitioners that owing to the policy of "assessment standardisation" or moderation policy adopted by CBSE and ICSE boards to calculate the class 12 examination scores, the petitioners are at a severe disadvantage while applying for engineering courses.

Some of the arguments put forth by several petitioners involved in the matter are listed below:

(a)  Students in the State Board are graded under an unusually lenient scheme. Particularly in the pandemic season, the question paper was designed in a way such that if a student managed to answer 60 out of 120 questions, they would score full marks. This gives them an unfair advantage over students under different Boards where the marking scheme is much stricter. 

(b)  It is unnecessary to consider the marks obtained in the final examination of Class 12 when one's performance can be gauged by the marks scored in the entrance examination. 

(c)   A particular algorithm is used to standardize the marks scored by students under the ICSE Board. However, nobody can comprehend this algorithm, which is why it has not been challenged so far. 

(d)  Some of the students under the CBSE and ICSE Boards have applied for improvement examinations. It was urged that the portal to apply for the entrance may not be closed till the results for the same were published to accommodate these students as well.

The Court observed that it will have to consider the decisions of the Supreme Court and other High Courts regarding when standardisation can and cannot be applied and whether the standardisation methodology prepared on a certain assumption of facts can be given effect to in a different situation.

Background:

Petitioners are Grade XII students aggrieved by the method of admission given to professional and graduate courses offered by various Universities in the State.

They moved a batch of petitions admit students to professional courses and other streams based solely on the basis of their scores in the entrance exams rather than considering the results of the Grade XII examinations.

As per the notification issued by the Commissioner of Entrance Exams, for the preparation of the rank list, an equal weightage of 50: 50 will be given to the score obtained in the entrance examination and the marks obtained in the Grade XII after standardization.

This apparently caused great concern to the students enrolled in CBSE and ISE schools for the reason that even if standardization was done, it cannot give a satisfactory result. They alleged that the 50% of marks obtained in 12th was patently erroneous and does not serve the purpose for which the ratio is provided.

Owing to the pandemic, CBSE schools and ISC schools in the State had not conducted final examinations for Grades X and XII.

As per the latest proposal by the Centre, the qualifying marks are to be calculated on the basis of the scores secured by each student during the previous three classes namely classes IX, X, and XI.

They contended that their results were therefore not evaluated based on their academic performance in Grade XII alone, while students enrolled in State schools had given final exams, the results of which will reflect their performance in this Grade alone.

As per the moderation polices announced by CBSE and ICSE, no student of any school will score more than what was the highest average marks obtained by ex-students in the past three and five years respectively. This had been approved by the Supreme Court earlier this year.

Moreover, it was contended that the more lenient method of evaluation adopted by the SSLC board gave its students an unfair advantage in procuring seats in engineering colleges in the state.

Case Title: Salvia Hussain and Ors v. State of Kerala & Ors and connected matters.