Karnataka High Court allows board exams for Classes 5, 8, 9; RUPSA to move SC

The High Court also ordered that the state government hold consultation with all stakeholders in the future before conducting the board examinations for the upcoming years. However, the Registered Unaided Private Schools Association (RUPSA) has decided to move the Supreme Court again challenging the division bench order of the High Court.

Karnataka government had notified two orders dated October 6 and October 9, 2023 appointing the KSEAB (Karnataka School Examination & Assessment Board) as competent authority to conduct the “Summative Assessment-2” exams. This decision was challenged by the private school management associations before the High Court and a Single Judge had quashed the government notifications. However, the single judge’s judgement was stayed after the state’s appeal to a division bench. Challenging the Division bench order, private schools and parents filed special leave petitions before the Supreme Court which put a hold on the exams by setting aside the interim order.

In appeal, the state government argued that board exams are in students’ interest and to improve the overall performance of the students ” and if the exam is to be quashed now, the respective schools will have to withdraw the exams for the students. “It is not that exams will not be held. We will now have to tell govt school teachers to set the exams paper but the standards will drop,”the government had argued.

The KSEAB 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 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.

However, the private schools association argued that RTE mandates that continuous and comprehensive evaluation must be conducted at school level for class 5,8 and 9 and it should not be a board exam. “CCE means conducting examinations at 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 board level and taluk level respectively, it hampers the child’s learning curve,” Lokesh Talikatte, president of RUPSA argued.