On May 24th 2017, Delhi high court instructed the CBSE to follow its 'moderation or grace marks policy' to students for difficult questions as per the pattern followed till now. The CBSE can review its decision for the next year later.

On April 25, CBSE scrapped the moderation policy under which grace marks are given to students in exams for difficult questions. In a reply to plea filed by parents and some students, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday instructed the board to follow its 'moderation policy'.

The court said that  students who took the exams "ought to have been put to notice" as they have the "right to know" what the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was doing.

Intrestingly, The court explicitly said while the CBSE's decision was "wonderful" as it was attempting to bring uniformity in the evaluation process to address the issue of "spiking" of marks, it "should have been done prospectively and uniformly for everyone across the country".

"It cannot be denied that a change in policy can have drastic consequences. Grave and irreparable financial loss may also enure to the students," the bench said and added that it may also "completely change the course of academic future of students, especially those of Delhi." Court said

 What is Moderation Policy?

1. Marks Moderation Policy or Grace Marks is a provision of providing extra marks to students who are falling short of a few marks from passing the board exam.
2. The moderation policy also makes provision for giving grace marks to students for extra difficult questions in the question paper or for any question with errors.

Why Controversy?

1. The  %age of marks scored by CBSE students will fall, due to scarping of this policy and increase in grace marks by some State boards shall give unfair advantage to state board students.
2. The Delhi High Court, said that the doing away with policy this year , as suggested by CBSE, was unfair to students who had filled the examination form when the policy was still in place.

Conclusion:

After the CBSE last month scrapped the moderation policy that allows grace marks for difficult questions in Class 12 examinations, the Delhi High Court has asked the board to continue the policy for the current year, and the board is free to review it next year.