HC hears parents plea against Board exams as tweetathon gets support

Sonya Kapoor

Days after a parent moved the Bombay High Court HC against the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education ICSE Board-s decision to conduct the Std X examinations from July 2 amid the COVID-19 crisis, the court heard the matter on Friday.

The court has scheduled the final hearing for Monday considering the urgency of the matter. While parents and students are hoping for a favourable decision, a social media movement - tweetathon - against the examinations, started on Friday, garnered a lot of support from across the country.

Arvind Tiwari, who is also an advocate, had moved the HC a week ago.

"The matter was finally heard today but due to time constraints the final hearing was posted for Monday. While the state government represented in court that it has already suggested the Board to not conduct the examinations in July as situation is not favourable now, the respondents from the ICSE Board pleaded that they do not come under the purview of the state government and that the Centre has already given them permission. I have been asked to file a response before the next date."

Meanwhile, Cancel10thICSEBoards was among the top trending hashtags on Friday as parents from across the country supported a tweetathon on social media.

Sonya Kapoor, a parent from Gurgaon, who started the online campaign, said, "It is clearly unacceptable to send children out for exams in such times when COVID-19 cases are constantly increasing. We have been raising our voices against it locally but we decided to start a movement across India as parents from all states are fighting for the same cause. The movement was successful and we hope it brings about the change we want. Board examinations don-t define the lives of children? What example are we setting for them?"

Cancel10thICSEBoards was among the top trending hashtags on Friday

"Over 30,000 tweets and re-tweets were seen with this hashtag on Friday as parents from across the country came together against the Board-s decision. We have been protesting against the exams for a month now but the Board is adamant. While we have a court case in Mumbai, when a parent from Delhi approached us to participate in the tweetathon, we were more than willing. This boosted our morale as we got to know that parents from other states were of the same opinion and that we needed to unite," said Captain Sheriff D-costa, a parent from South Mumbai.

Several parents through their tweets asked a common question - "Are exams more important than the lives of students?" They also tagged their local governments in the tweets. However, the Maharashtra government has already written to the Board asking them to postpone the examinations, as the situation was not conducive for conducting the same.

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