2010

Constitution of India - Assignment 1

Deepak Ramkrishna Roll no. 114 MBA (Tech) IT - Mumbai

7/16/2010

Assignment 1

Assignment 1
My stand on the best five system introduced by the state for the admissions to junior colleges for SSC and ICSE students. A controversy has been playing out each year for the last three years prior to the commencement of the junior college admission process in Maharashtra. This year the controversy of best five subjects only for consideration for admission has been raging on for the past few months, finally getting resolved on 14 th July. With the SC passing a final verdict, the admission process is now set to start on 17 th July. The SC overruled the verdict of Bombay High Court. I wholeheartedly endorse the initial High Court verdict and oppose the final Supreme Court verdict. I am also vehemently opposed to the entire admission process, which I feel is blinkered, biased and is detrimental to the entire education system.

Background
1) Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) examination is an examination conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations for class 10, i.e., grade 10. Candidates appearing for the examination have to study seven subjects, with anywhere from 1 to 3 papers in each subject. The subjects allowed are: Group I: All subjects in this group are compulsory. English, History, Civics and Geography 1 combined History and Civics paper + 1 Geography paper and a second language 1 combined Literature and Language paper.

Group II: Though the students have a choice, it is generally assumed that they will take Mathematics and Science. Students wishing to take up other subjects must be apprised of the implications. They must study two subjects from this list:

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Mathematics, Science, Economics, Commercial Studies, Technical Drawing, Computer Science etc.

Group III: Any one of the following: Computer Applications, Economic Applications, Commercial Applications, Art, Physical Education etc.

2) CBSE CBSE students appear only for five exams and all will be considered for admissions 3) Secondary School Certificate Examination This exam is conducted by the State Government for Class 10. All students have to appear for six subjects including three languages viz. Marathi, English and Hindi. The state board has six compulsory subjects for class X students -- English and two languages, social studies, mathematics and science.

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Timeline of events
The entire controversy surrounding the admission procedure during the current year played out as follows The Maharashtra government came up with the best five formula. A government resolution said marks obtained in any five of the six subjects in Class 10 exams by an SSC student would be taken into account for admission to Class 11. An SSC pass-out, therefore, will be able to choose the five subjects in which he/she has excelled.

February 2010

June 2010

Several public interest litigations were filed by aggrieved parents of children who passed out from the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) board, asking why the same facility was not available to students of other boards.

High court struck down the 'best-five' system as it was 'discriminatory' and violates the fundamental right to equality

June 2010

State appeals against HC decision in SC

June 2010

July 2010

SC passes an interim order stating that the 'best-five' option should be extended to other boards as well. Final verdict expected in October

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My analysis of the entire saga

For the past three years, the State has been coming up with hare-brained ideas with regards to changing the admission procedure. The plans have been announced without any planning whatsoever (fundamental laws were violated) and without considering external factors. Moreover the rollout plan has been extremely shoddy. The state has failed to learn from its past experiences. 2009 90:10 controversy: On June 8th, the state announced the 90:10 system, which intended to set aside 90% junior college seats for SSC students. The system was struck down by Bombay High Court a month later. 2008 Percentile controversy: On June 27th, the state asked colleges to take a students percentages, divide by the average of the top ten from the board and multiply by hundred. The final percentile obtained would be used for admission. The state also attempted to resurrect a policy to keep 70% seats for students from the same district. The system was struck down by the HC in September. The state announces these plans just before admission begin every year. These plans lead to lengthy litigation, delaying the admissions and affecting the students. The state lacks foresight A government resolution said marks obtained in any five of the six subjects in Class 10 exams by an SSC student would be taken into account for admission to Class 11. An SSC pass-out, therefore, will be able to choose the five subjects in which he/she has excelled. On the contrary an ICSE student who has 7 subjects will not have the liberty to choose his/her best five subjects. This clearly violates Article 14 of the Constitution of India Article 14 - Equality before law - The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. Several parents of ICSE students filed a case against the new system in the Bombay High Court claiming that their fundamental right to equality would be violated by the new system. Only 8289 students appeared for the ICSE examinations across Maharashtra, whereas 2.82 lakh students appeared for the SSC examinations. This attempt by the state to tilt the admission process in favor of the SSC students for the third year in a row indicates that the State is playing a political game and is trying to capture vote banks of SSC students relatives. Moreover the state passed a Government resolution rather than introducing a bill in the legislature again indicating its political motives. Throughout the State has claimed that SSC students are at a disadvantage during the admissions. However during the course of the trial in the HC and SC they were unable to substantiate this claim with any evidence. In fact the HC said that the system was

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intended to benefit SSC students under the garb of uniformity and that the sta te had miserably failed to substantiate that SSC students were suffering from a disadvantage in the admission process The Bombay High Courts verdict was to strike down the entire system and consider all marks for all Boards. This however meant that the State would have to reissue the certificates which indicated only the best five marks. To avoid this huge logistical overhead, the state appealed to the SC In my opinion, the High Court verdict truly upheld the essence of Article 14 by abolishing the system altogether and creating a level playing field. The Supreme Court verdict on the other hand was to extend the best -five system to the ICSE students as well. Although this upholds the right to equality, in my opinion, there are several flaws to this verdict o The entire system is faulty, as it encourages students to neglect one subject and concentrate on the his/her five best subjects o The verdict states that ICSE students cannot pick their best subject from Group III. If they wish to do so, all 7 subjects will be considered collectively. There are no such conditional clauses for SSC students, which is not fair. o It will also complicate the admission process immensely. For example can a student who wants to apply for science leave out science from his/her best five? o CBSE students are also at a disadvantage as they cannot choose their best subjects, thus lowering their overall percentage. The state has also failed to consider the fact that amidst all the controversy and litigation every year, it is the students, both from ICSE and SSC who suffer the most The admission process will now start by 19th June.

Conclusion
Though the Supreme Court verdict to extend the best-five system has brought relief to many and has in essence upheld Article 14, I feel that the verdict has been delivered hastily without sufficient deliberation and has in a way been affected by the short time period and logistical constraints such as re-printing of mark sheets. In my opinion, the High Court verdict to strike down the entire system was the best decision as it protects the rights of the students. The Supreme Court will pass a final verdict in October. I hope that the best -five system is abolished and that all students are treated equally during the admission process.