The Madras High Court on Monday directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to publicise in media that stern actions will be taken against the education institutes if they fail to follow the board's 'No Homework' rule for class 1 and 2 students.

Justice N Kirubakaran passed the order on a plea by advocate M Purushothaman directing the CBSE to follow only syllabus and books prescribed by the National Council Of Educational Research and Training.

At the time of the hearing on the matter before Justice Kirubakaran, the CBSE produced a copy of the circular which said it had issued similar circulars on September 15, 2004, and on September 12, 2016, saying there should not be any homework assigned to students of classes 1 and 2.

According to CBSE affiliation bylaws, schools affiliated to the board must satisfy its advisory saying no school bag and no homework for students up to class 2.

"It is once again reiterated that schools may ensure that no homework is given in class 3",the board stated in compliance of the directions from the High Court.

"It is also reiterated that since NCERT is an academic authority for classes 1 to 8, all schools may ensure that CBSE circular dated April 17, 2007, on reducing the satchel load and homework for children, is scrupulously followed," it said.

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Talking about the board exams that were held earlier this year, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) informed that marks for over 4,000 cases have been changed after re-evaluation of answer sheets of Class 12 exam. This accounts for 0.075 per cent of total evaluated copies.

"Over 61 lakh copies were evaluated for Class 12 out of which there were 66,876 applications for the first stage verification process. Finally, there were changes in marks in only 4,632 cases which is just 0.075 per cent of the total copies evaluated," CBSE Secretary Anurag Tripathi said.

It was informed that changes in marks were made in 6.9 per cent of the 66,876 applications received. The secretary also pointed out that of the 4,632 cases, where there has been an increase in marks, 3,200 of them fall in the increase by 1-5 marks category, which otherwise is considered zero error.