Date:07/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/07/stories/2008110761121800.htm

National

In same school, cut-off marks no bar to admissions: court

J. Venkatesan

It may take student in a suitable stream in higher class

School must share some responsibility for poor performance
It should help student do better in next class

New Delhi: A student who passes the class X examination cannot be denied admission to the higher secondary class in the same school merely because he fails to get the cut-off marks, The Supreme Court has held. A Bench consisting of Justices R.V. Raveendran and Aftab Alam said: “It would be quite unreasonable and unjust to throw out a student from the school because he failed to get the cut-off marks in the class X examination. After all, the school must share at least some responsibility for the poor performance of its student and should help him in trying to do better in the next class. The school may, of course, give him the stream/course that appears most suitable for him on the basis of the prescribed cut-off marks.”

No fresh admission

Writing the judgment, Justice Alam noted: “Once a student is given admission to any educational institution the same continues class after class until he leaves the school. It is difficult to accept that after a student passes his tenth class public examination his admission to the 11th standard would be a fresh admission or re-admission.”

In the instant case, Saurabh Chaudhary of the Kendriya Vidyalaya, AFS, Tambaram, near Chennai, passed the class X examination held by the Central Board of Secondary Education in 2007-08. The school declined him admission to standard XI because his marks were lower than the cut-off marks.

The Madras High Court upheld the student’s claim and directed the school to admit him to class XI in the science stream.

School appeal rejected

Rejecting the school’s appeal against this judgment, the apex court said: “One can have no objection to a school laying down cut- off marks for selection of a suitable stream/course for a student, giving due regard to his/her aptitude as reflected in class X marks, where there is more than one stream. But it would be quite unreasonable and unjust to throw out a student from school because he failed to get the cut-off marks.”

It would have been perfectly open to the appellant to offer admission to Saurabh in class XI in streams/courses other than the science stream had such courses been available. But since this school has only science stream with Mathematics for classes XI and XII, the student must get admission in the science stream, the Bench said.