The Karnataka High Court on Thursday stayed an order passed by a single-judge bench that quashed the state government’s notification to conduct board examinations for Classes 5, 8, 9 and 11.
The two-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court allowed the state government to conduct the board examinations as scheduled on March 11.
A division bench of Justices K Somashekar and Rajesh Rai K stayed the March 6 order passed by a single judge bench halting the exams. The interim order on Thursday was passed after the Karnataka government filed an appeal against the single judge order.
“Without expressing any opinion on the merits of the matter, we are of the considered opinion that the impugned order passed by the learned single judge is required to be stayed,” the court reportedly said.
However, Lokesh Talikatte, president of the Registered Unaided Private School Association said the association will be approaching the Supreme Court on Saturday to challenge the division bench’s interim order.
The counsel representing the government argued that the examinations are being conducted keeping in mind the interests of the students and no parent or student has approached the High Court to oppose the examination. Further, the counsel also argued that the private school association is challenging the government’s decision to conduct examinations due to vested interests.
The Karnataka State Examination and Assessment Board had introduced ‘centralized annual examination’ for Classes 5 and 8 in the previous academic year, while the government introduced the same for Class 9 and first PUC (pre-university course) examination through a notification in September 2023.
According to the notification, no student shall be detained in case he/she fails. In such a situation, the school is directed to inform only the student and the student’s parents about the results. However, for the first PUC examination, the board will be conducting a supplementary examination at the college level if a student fails to get the passing mark.
The private schools association argued that RTE mandates that continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) must be conducted at school level for Classes 5,8 and 9 and it should not be a board exam.
“The CCE means conducting examinations at the school level, evaluating them at the school level and assessing the students based on their learning abilities. However, when the question paper and evaluation happens at the board and taluk levels, respectively, it hampers the child’s learning curve,” Talikatte said.