Constitution of India

Assignment # 1

ICSE, CBSE Board vs. Maharashtra Secondary Education Board

By
Kashish Parikh
MBA TECH- Tel (Shirpur)
Student Code: 515
The Best 5 Policy:

The Maharashtra Secondary Education Board approved the ‘best of five’ formula for the
students of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) Board. According to this rule, only the
marks of five subjects in which the student has scored the best out of the six compulsory
subjects will be considered for admission to the junior college. This has come as a relief to
the students who were appearing for the SSC exams. This rule will increase their aggregate
marks.
On the flip side, the ‘best of five’ policy would not be applicable to other board students.
The students from CBSE and ICSE would have marks of all their subjects considered. The ICSE
students would have suffered the most as they have to struggle with seven subjects, while a
CBSE student has six. This rule gave an undue advantage to the less meritorious SSC
students. The best-five system had helped around 40,928 SSC students (out of 12.73 lakh
lakh students) to score over 90% marks i.e. 3.22%. A demand was made to extend this ‘best
of five’ rule to the ICSE students as well (CBSE students have only five subjects). The ICSE
students have in all seven compulsory subjects. This was not accepted by the Maharashtra
Board.
Therefore the parents of the students appearing in the ICSE and CBSE exams have filed a
petition in the Bombay High Court. The petition was dismissed by the Bombay High Court as
a result the petitioners appealed before the Supreme Court.
The curriculum of the ICSE board consists of seven subjects divided in three groups:
Group I: This group consists of 4 Compulsary subjects
 English
 Environmental Science
 Social Studies
 Second Language

Group II: This group consists of 10 subjects by the ICSE board, out of which student can
choose any 2.
Group III: This group has many application subjects. The Student can select any 1 of these
subjects.
 Economics
 Cookery
 Computer Application
 Technical Drawing
 Fashion Designing
 Performing Arts
 PT etc
The Maharashtra education board said that the subjects in the Group III are easy and high
scoring which give the students an undue advantage over the other boards. But the ICSE
Board insisted that the students study hard for those subjects as well. Hence the ICSE board
appealed before the Supreme Court stating that this rule was in violation of the Article 14 of
the Constitution of India.
Effect on SSC (Secondary School Certificate) Students:
The SSC (Secondary School Certificate) students have to appear for exams in 6 subjects.
According to the Best 5 Policy, the best 5 percentages of total 6 will be calculated. Also, only
those who have scored more than 40 percent in Science can opt for science stream in junior
college.
Due to the best 5 policy, the top junior colleges in the city can be out of reach for even a 90
percent or above student. It is because of the Best 5 policy, the cut-offs of the junior colleges
are expected to shoot up by 2-3 percent, with some of them expecting it to cross even the
95 percent mark.
Due to Best 5 Policy, the principles of various junior colleges are worried about refusing
admission to students as most of the students would score above 90 percent or so.
Effect on ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) Students:
The ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) students have to appear for exams in 7
subjects.
The 7 subjects were divided into 3 groups namely, Group I, Group II, & Group III. According
to the best 5 policy, 4 subject were to be opted from Group I, 2 from Group II & 1 from
Group III.
Also, according to the policy, the best 5 percentage should include subjects from Group I &
Group II. So, there was a drawback for the ICSE students, as most of them found the Group
III subject scoring.
As the result, excluding the most scoring subject from the Best 5 percentage to be
considered would lower their average. Hence they would lag behind in the admission of the
junior colleges.
Also, the government announced to considered all the 7 subjects percentile for the ICSE
students, compared to that of any 5 subjects for the SSC students, which was later reduced
to 6 subjects, which excludes the Group III subject.
According to the ICSE students, the Group III subject, which was excluded from the Best 5
percentile, was the most scoring subject for them. As the result of it, the ICSE students have
the disadvantage in their admission in the junior college.

Article 14:
The Article 14 of the Constitution of India states:
(1) Equality before Law
As a general rule law will be one for all, and there will be no discrimination.
 (2) Equal Protection of Law
Judiciary will extend its hand to those who do not have any access or very less access to
judiciary. Judiciary will do favour to disadvantaged to come to an equal level of protection.

Hence, ICSE Board stated that the ‘best of five’ rule was violating the Article 14 of the
Constitution of India as it provided an undue advantage to the students of the SSC board
and an equal opportunity was not provided to the students of ICSE and CBSE students. As
the Article states that there should be an ‘equal protection of law’, the rule should also be
implemented for ICSE students who appear for exams in seven subjects.
On 25th February, the best 5 Scheme was announced. On which the parents of the ICSE
board students filed a case in Bombay High Court on 7th June.
Due to the problems created by the best 5 policy, the admission of the junior colleges were
held by the court, as they felt that the policy were affecting the junior college admissions.
After the decision of the Bombay high court, the case was forwarded to the Supreme Court
by the Maharashtra Government.
The Supreme Court, after analyzing gave a temporary decision, to continue the admission
process this year.
The permanent decision about the best 5 policy has yet to be announced.
The Final Verdict:
On 13 July, 2010 the Supreme Court ordered the Maharashtra government to extend the
best-five policy for junior college admissions to the ICSE students too. It means that
1. For SSC students, the best five scores out of the six subjects that they appear will be
considered for admission.
2. For ICSE students, the best five scores in the six subjects appeared in the group I and
II will be considered for admission. The one subject that they appear from the Group
III will not be considered.
3. For CBSE student, there will no change in rule as they have to appear for only five
subjects.

The judgment was appreciated by all the parents & students. The project director of the
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan said that there was justice and the order benefits both SSC as well as
ICSE students. The judgement was a fair, equal and appropriate for the moment as quoted
by the former secretary of Mumbai division of the state board.
Suggestions to the government:
The government should come out with a white paper, informing students about the correct
and transparent procedure, so that there is no confusion in the minds of students at the
time of exams.
 As mentioned above, I do appreciate and support Best Five as proposed by the
government to introduce this in the state to reduce the pressure of exams from
students and at the same time bring parity between the state and other systems, but
I regret to say that throughout the year the government was silent about it and
suddenly just when the dates of SSC Exams have been declared, the government
announced Best of Five Scheme. The government should have planned it in advance,
as it is being discussed since long and have finalized the same at the beginning of the
current academic year or say at least 6 months in advance so that any error /
mistake in implementing the same could have been rectified much prior to the
examination.
 Due to this last minute announcement the students are very much confused and
undecided about their choice of subjects and its implications. Because through put
the year they studied all the subjects with equal importance without differentiating
more between their choice of subject/s. Since they have the choice now to select
best of five subjects, it has become very difficult for them and are undecided over
the subject which is to be dropped. Therefore the policy should have been decided
and declared much in advance.
 The intention of the government is to bring SSC at par with the other Boards is no
doubt a positive step but I would like to know whether the government has studied
the pattern and policy of other boards? And whether the government is planning to
implement the policy / pattern same as other boards or will there be some areas
where there could be some discrimination/ differences? There is a huge confusion in
the minds of students about the same as it is still not clear as to whether students
have to pass in all subjects or those passed in five subjects will be treated as passed
and promoted to higher standards, as being done by other boards? If it is not so (as
it appears to be) then there is no meaning in bringing a policy which is not fully at
par with other boards. This will give further scope to litigations. Therefore we need a
white paper along with a comparison list of other Boards and their policy.
 The government should also come out with proper guidance and information, for the
benefit of all students, by publishing detailed scheme / policy about Best Five.
 There is one more aspect of debate or clarification which the government should
inform the students and more particularly the college authorities about the concern
that those selecting best of five without Maths and or Science will get the admission
is Science Stream of FYJC or not? Or those without Maths will get admissions in
Commerce or not? And those without Hindi / language will get admissions in Arts or
not? Similarly clarification about Vocational Streams / subjects should also be very
clear and transparent. The policy adopted by other boards in this matter is also to be
studied to bring parity.
 Whereas the government announced Marathi and English as compulsory subjects for
Best of Five for SSC students, the same is not with the other boards. Those who have
opted for French or Hindi or any other vernacular language will be at loss and
 therefore will not be at par with other boards. Therefore this confusion should be
studied properly with other boards and clarified immediately.
 Clarification is also needed about marks secured in Practical examinations, Orals,
Assignments and Sports etc. In short, each and every aspect should be well defined,
clarified and informed to students / parents, well in advance, along with its pros and
cons.
 One more aspect which is widely being discussed amongst students is whether they
have to appear for the examination of all subjects or only Five?
The above mentioned are some of the vital issues which the government should
clarify and also make it sure that the SSC students are at par with other boards in all
aspects, including the selection of languages.
I further suggest that being the largest Examination Board (Compared to other
boards and the strength of students) the Government should frame single
comprehensive and transparent policy applicable to all Examination Boards instead
of duplicating / copying / adopting the policies of other Boards.
What if the other Boards Change its Policy Next Year? A serious thought should be
given to.

Conclusion:
There are around 12-13 lakh SSC students whereas only 20,000-30,000 ICSE students in the
state of Maharashtra.
The system has been discrimatory and unfair.
Effort to make the SSC system more 'liberal', gave it an advantage over other boards.
Supreme Court has extended the best-five policy to the students of the ICSE Board as well.
Hence the judgement has given equal opportunity to all and the law has been equal for all
students. Thus, the article 14 of the Constitution of India has not been violated.
The curriculum of ICSE Board consists of seven subjects out of which, the subject from the
Group III are easy and high scoring. In comparison to that, the curriculum of the SSC Board
consists of six subjects. These subjects include languages like English, Marathi and a third
language. These subjects are not high scoring and often result in lowering of the over all
aggregate of the student. As the ICSE board has a high scoring subject and only two
languages, the aggregate of the students usually were higher than that of the SSC students.
Hence, the ICSE students had enjoyed this advantage during the junior college admissions.
This is the reason why the Maharashtra Secondary Education Board had come up with ‘the
aggregate system’ which was aimed to increase the aggregate of the SSC students to
counter this problem. To counter this problem the state board came up with the best of 5
policy.
The judgement given by the apex court is the best possible route towards seeking justice to
all. The judgement has taken a middle path and has given equal benefits to SSC as well as
ICSE students. The order by the Supreme Court has appropriately given the order, which
allows the ICSE students to choose the best five subjects amongst the Groups I and II. The
high scoring subjects from Group III cannot be counted.
The decision has resulted in a waste of lot of money and time. But most importantly it has
delayed and jeopardised the admissions of lakhs of students all over Maharashtra. Hence
admissions to junior college will start late and cause inconvenience to the students since the
portion would be covered in a shorter span of time.
Although justice has been served there still might be some negatives to the best 5 policy.
The purpose of the best five system was to provide some relief to students under stress but
it can make students more 'liberal' in their overall performance in their exams. This
approach might encourage students to work hard for 5 subjects and not give in the same
amount of effort for the 6th subject. Hence this might result in the student neglecting one
subject. As a result the students overall performance might be jeopardized causing academic
loss to them. Hence I think the best 5 system should be discontinued.