Won't intervene in moderation policy row: Javadekar

Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Sunday categorically said his ministry will not intervene in the ongoing moderation policy row.

Any change should not be abruptly implemented in the middle of the academic session, he added.

Moderation policy refers to a practice in which students get extra marks in subjects considered ‘unusually difficult’, or if there have been differences in the sets of question papers.

“We will not intervene in the moderation policy issue. It is an academic call which the boards need to take,” Javadekar said in an interview.

The HRD minister’s comments came against the backdrop of an order by the Delhi High Court, directing CBSE to continue with the moderation policy, which was scrapped last month after CBSE along with 32 other boards formed a consensus on the issue.

The Central Board of Secondary Education was earlier believed to have been considering challenging the high court order, but was advised against it by the legal counsel that moving the Supreme Court may be counter- productive and could delay results.

While CBSE declared its Class XII results on Sunday following the moderation policy, there is no clarity about the fate of the six state boards — Rajasthan, Karnataka, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Haryana — which announced their results prior to the high court order as their students may suffer in undergraduate admissions.

“Boards had taken a decision in consultation with each other, they will decide further. But I believe that for any change to be implemented, it is not wise to do it abruptly mid way, but from the next academic year,” he said. The high court had said the decision by CBSE “would have a drastic effect on the students” and “rules can’t change once the game has begun”.