The Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) on Monday directed the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) not to conduct the offline High School Certificate (HSC) Examination for 139 differently-abled students.
The BSE had not declared the results of the 139 students following which a petition was filed in the OHRC by right activist Manoj Jena.
In his application today, Jena stated that the Board of Secondary Education without waiting for the final orders of this Commission in the matter had decided to conduct the High School Certificate Examination of the differently-abled students in offline mode from July 30.
Jena contended that such decision of the BSE is 'not only arbitrary but also it is intended to put the differently-abled students in utter difficulty during such Covid-19 pandemic situation.'
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Taking serious view of the matter, the rights body said it does not find any justification on part of the BSE for such decision. The Commission expressed its surprise that when the result of lakhs of students of general Schools have been published without any examination basing on the marks secured in Class-IX and Class-X, why the Board of Secondary Education, Odisha is insisting on offline mode examination of the differently-abled students.
In its interim order, the Commission said, "The Board of Secondary Education, Odisha, Cuttack is hereby called up not to proceed with the offline examination of the differently-abled students stated to be commenced from 30.07.2021 till the next date of hearing. It is made clear that if anything untoward happens in the matter affecting the interest of the differently-abled students it shall be at the sole risk of BSE Odisha and the officer concerned."
The next hearing has been scheduled for August 6.