Supreme Court sets aside Karnataka High Court order on board exams for classes 5, 8 and 9

A bench comprising justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal reversed an earlier decision.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside an interim order of the Karnataka High Court's division bench order allowing the state government to conduct board exams for the summative assessment of students of classes 5, 8, and 9 as per the schedule, beginning from March 11.

"You have spoiled the entire education system of the country and now you want to complicate it. Please do not do that," the top court told the Karnataka government counsel in strong observations.

A bench comprising justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal said, “We allow the present appeals and set aside the order passed by the division bench. The division bench to decide main appeals in accordance with law as expeditiously as possible… the same be decided on merits, without being influenced by the observations made by us”.

During the hearing, senior advocate Devadutt Kamat, for the Karnataka government, insisted that the division bench passed a correct order.

He said it is not even an exam, it is a summative assessment, and it is the policy of the state to prepare students for their future.

Kamat said Class 9 and 11 are not covered by the Right to Education (RTE) Act and class 11 exams are already over.

“Till Class 8 you are permitted to hold regular examinations (as per RTE)…let the high court decide, twice the single bench of the high court did not allow (state government notification regarding examination),” the bench pointed out.

Kamat referred to Section 30 of RTE, no child shall be required to pass a board examination till completion of elementary education.

He said that the emphasis is not to detain.

The bench then asked, "If they are not required to pass, why are you holding the examination?"

On the state's decision to hold these examinations, Kamat said, “We found that in the classrooms what is being imparted may not be up to the standards. So as a state I need to know whether schools operating in our jurisdiction are doing their job or not and the best way to assess is to have a uniform assessment”.

The bench then told Kamat, “You have spoiled the entire education system of the country and now you want to complicate it. Please do not do that. No examination is required to be passed then do not hold the examination”.

Kamat pressed that the examination is required and urged the court to not allow the appeals against the division bench order.

"Board exams have their own scare. People are scared,” the bench said.

Kamat asked the court to allow the exams for Class 9 students, as they have to prepare for Class 10, and Class 9 is not covered by RTE Act.

The bench said the government notifications were held to be illegal by the single bench of the high court.

Kamat said the single judge did not see Section 22 or Section 15, and "an illegal order according to us has been passed, without noticing the provisions of the Act. This order cannot be sustained".

A batch of pleas was filed by the Organization for Unaided Recognized Schools, RTE Students and Parents Association, and Registered Unaided Private Schools Management Association Karnataka challenging the order passed by the division bench of the high court.

On March 7, a division bench comprising Justice K Somashekar and Justice Rajesh Rai K passed the interim order, staying the March 6 judgment of a single judge on an appeal filed by the state government questioning the correctness of the single judge’s order.

The single judge had quashed the state’s decision to hold board exams for classes 5, 8, 9, and 11 from the academic year 2023-24. The high court declared that said decision was taken without following the due process of law as prescribed under the provisions of the Karnataka Education Act, 1983.