Karnataka HC permits government to conduct board exams for students of Classes 5 and 8

Earlier, private school management associations had filed a petition in the High Court seeking to quash the government order that mandated board exams for Class 5 and 8, citing that it would pressurise and cause tension among students. The petitioners also argued that the government order was passed without mentioning it in the prospectus of the academic year.

On March 10, a single judge bench consisting of Justice Pradeep Singh Yerur upheld the petition and struck down the government circular that mandated board exams for Classes 5 and 8. Later, the government filed an appeal, referring the case to a divisional bench.

Vishal R, commissioner of department of public instruction, said that the board examination for both the classes will be scheduled from March 27. “The idea of the examination is to assess the students’ learning level and is clearly not to retain the students. The examination will consist of questions based on the textbooks only. We will start giving wide publicity to students about the board examination from tomorrow (Thursday),” said Vishal.

Meanwhile, Lokesh Talikatte, president of the Registered Unaided Schools Management Association of Karnataka, one of the petitioners in the case, said, “The judgment of the High Court in this case is unwise. It will put parents and students in an anxious state. The move creates confusion and problems among many private management schools. The government has not provided textbooks to nearly 40 per cent of the students and the announcement was not made in the academic calendar of 2022-23. Moreover, there is a huge vacancy of teachers in government schools and there is a lack of learning material for private schools to prepare for such exams. What is the use of conducting the examination when the basic resources are insufficient?” Talikatte also said they will move the Supreme Court to challenge the Karnataka High Court order.

The department of public instruction in December had announced that the Karnataka State Evaluation and Assessment Board (KSEAB) will be conducting annual examinations for students of Classes 5 and 8 who are affiliated with the state board from the current academic year.

According to education officials, the move by the government is an effort to measure the progress and the performance of students at the elementary level of education for the entire year. It is also with an objective to bring in more seriousness among students and recover the learning loss caused due to the pandemic. Until now, the students were evaluated based on the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation model for Classes 5 and 8, however, from the next academic year, they will be evaluated for the whole year.