Joshi said in his letter, "I am grateful we were able to agree on the following course of action which would benefit the students of CBSE affiliated schools." The 'course of action' mentioned above was the admittance of school-evaluated students without the condition of clearing an external exam. Joshi further added that "there is no difference between students who have appeared in the Board conducted examination and school conducted exam."
The letter refers to the July 5 meeting between Joshi and state school education secretary Sumit Mullick held in Mumbai. Joshi's letter, written on July 7, mentioned that his office had been "receiving a large number of telephone calls from worried parents" and hence the CBSE's request to "look into the matter urgently and get appropriate directions issued".
However, the state education department maintains that nothing was agreed upon and therefore no directions needed to be issued. Speaking to TOI on July 9, state education minister Rajendra Darda made it clear that "no promises were made to Joshi" during the meet. This statement goes against claims of Joshi who has mentioned the details of issues on which agreement was reached.
When contacted Mullick refused to comment on Joshi's letter citing legal issues. "This matter is already in the court and if I say anything it will amount to contempt of court. The hearing is scheduled in a day or two here in Mumbai, so let us just wait till then," said Mullick.
Parents and students had hoped that the meeting of CBSE chief and top state official would finally end the confusion but it seems things are actually getting more complicated. The state has still not officially accepted the equivalence of school-evaluated and the board-evaluated students, leaving parents worried as admissions to junior colleges are nearing closure. Joshi's letter just added more drama to the incident.
Manjot Singh, spokesperson for Aggrieved Parents Forum (APF), said, "Everyday I get hundreds of calls from parents all over the city. They all want to know when this confusion will end as the State says one thing, the CBSE another. We are really depressed and we want just very simple answers. I wonder why the two boards can't just sort out their differences and let us have our peace of mind?"
Last week the APF approached the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court seeking clarity on the issue. The next hearing on the matter will be on July 14. As per Maharashtra government's circular in June, only students who took the board-evaluated exam would be allowed admissions to state board junior colleges through the centralized admission process.
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