Student cannot be denied from class XI admission in same school who clears Class X exams from same school : Calcutta HC

Recently, calcutta high court came to case where a student has been denied from promotion in class 11th after clearing class 10th exam from same school where he was studying.

Echoing the views in two Supreme Court judgments – Principal, Cambridge School v Payal Gupta and Principal, Kendriya Vidyalaya v Sourabh Chaudhary, Justice Shekhar B Saraf emphasised,

“… a school cannot abandon its own student and leave him in the wilderness. It is, without doubt, permissible for the school authorities to make cut-off marks for different streams and subjects for the students who are taking admission in class XI. It is axiomatic that a student having secured low marks and not qualifying for the cut-off marks for a particular stream cannot insist on obtaining admission in that particular stream. However, the school cannot outright reject the student who has been studying in the said school and has taken the Madhyamik Pariksha examination from the said school upon his having successfully passed the said examination.“

Also, Supreme Court has made this clear that for admission in same school, student of that school have not to face any written admission test. Schools can put cut off marks for those students who are taking direct admission in class 11th but they can’t force their own students to appear for the same and qualify test for promotion in 11^th. However, while the student must be allowed admission to class XI, he cannot insist on a particular stream if he has failed to clear the cut off for the same.

In view of these observations, and given the facts of the case, the High Court held,

“It is clear from the documents annexed to the writ petition that the son of the writ petitioner had passed the Madhyamik Pariksha, 2018 and, accordingly, he was very much eligible to join class XI. The judgments of the Hon’ble Supreme Court cited above deal with this aspect directly…“