Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Friday directed the state government to give three days time for students to apply for Plus-One courses after the CBSE Class X results are declared. A Division Bench issued the order while disposing an appeal filed by the state government challenging the order of a Single Judge extending the last date till June 5. The state government had fixed the last date for submission of application seeking admission to Plus-One as May 22. However, several Parent Teachers Association of CBSE schools approached the High Court challenging this and the court extended the date till June 9.
The court pointed out that a number of students appearing for Class X examination under the CBSE carriculam in the state is about 72,000. If the last date is not extended, then all these students would be deprived of admissions in schools of their choice in Plus-One. The state government submitted that last year, about 42,000 CBSE students had applied for admission into Plus-One. If the Single Judge's order was implemented then the whole schedule of admission will be adversely affected and the classes will be delayed. The court, however, observed that the rights of children to receive education as per their choice has to be considered. A mere three weeks delay in finalising admission does not upset things to an extent, but it could not justify denying children their rights.
According to the state, various stages of online admission process were approved and finalised after prolonged discussion. The number of students who sought admission was only 49,779 in 2016. Hence, more than four lakh applicants have to sacrifice their rights for these small number of CBSE students. CBSE submitted that it is expected to declare Class X results within the second week of June 2017. Thus, even the date as fixed by the Single Judge may not serve the purpose. Considering the submission of CBSE, the Division Bench modified the order.
The government should publish repeatedly the news regarding the last date for admission so that parents may be ready to make online applications as early as they get the mark list for their children. The court said that like other professional institutions where applications are received, pending results, state ought to have adopted the same procedure so that all formalities, data collection would be over and they would merely await for formal results. It would have reduced the time gap.
