E-Paper
Supreme Court stops Karnataka from releasing half-yearly board exam results for classes 8-10
Parents of some children told the top court that the students in some districts were asked questions on topics that were yet to be taught to them
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday stopped the Karnataka government from declaring the results of the half-yearly public examinations for classes 8 to 10 across the state and told the state not to make it an “ego issue” and focus on providing good schools for students rather than adding to their pressure by holding such examinations.
A bench comprising justices Bela M Trivedi and SC Sharma passed the order after parents of several students represented through associations of unaided recognised schools complained about non-compliance with the court’s interim order passed in April restraining the holding of such examination.
“The respondents (state authorities) shall not declare results of half-yearly examination for classes 8, 9 and 10 for any of the districts till further orders,” the bench said. The case has been posted after four weeks.
Senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, who appeared for the state government, assured the bench that the results were not being declared for this examination and that there was no attempt to violate the court order. The bench asked the state why it conducted the half-yearly public examination for students of these classes when no other state board or the central board of secondary education (CBSE) was doing the same.
“There is no half-yearly board in any state. If you are so interested in the betterment of students, open good schools. Don’t throttle them by having these examinations. It only adds to their pressure.” the court observed.
Kamat said exams for classes 8 and 9 were withdrawn while those for Class 10 were retained due to falling results in schools. He said that though the examination is conducted by the state board, the same is evaluated by the school teachers concerned.
Advocate KV Dhananjaya, who appeared for some parents, pointed out that in some districts, there were questions in the question paper from portions that were yet to be taught to students. “Students and schools were in panic after they received the questions. They were under a lot of stress,” he said.
The court turned to Kamat. “Somebody is making it an ego issue,” the bench said.
The association of schools approached the top court challenging a Karnataka high court decision of March 22 which upheld the state’s decision to conduct the board examinations for schools affiliated to the Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB).
The state government claimed that section 22 of the Karnataka Education Act, 1983 empowers KSEAB to hold the board examination. Initially, the notification announcing the half-yearly board exam was withdrawn from three rural districts. During the previous hearing on October 15, when the school body pointed out that the examination was not rescinded in the other 24 districts, a statement was made by solicitor general Tushar Mehta appearing for the Congress-ruled state government that the results in all these districts will not be given effect.
