NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday castigated the Karnataka government for harassing students and restrained it from conducting half yearly board examinations for Classes 8, 9 and 10 or declaring the results, where exams have already been held, till further orders.
"Why are you harassing the students? You are the state. You should not behave like this. Don't make it an ego issue. If you are really concerned about the welfare of students, then please open good schools. Don't throttle them," a bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma told senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for the Karnataka government.
SC Questions Karnataka’s Educational Model, Calls for Student Welfare Over Exams
The bench pointed out no other state followed this model of education which is being pursued by the Karnataka government.
Kamat said that the state government has withdrawn a circular for conducting board examinations for students of classes 5, 8, 9 and 10 in the current academic year in seven rural districts of the state.
Court Stays Declaration of Exam Results, Orders State to Submit Detailed Affidavit
The top court was informed that the examination was conducted in 24 other districts as well.
It asked the state government to file an affidavit giving the exact details of the examination in four weeks.
The state was represented also by Additional Advocate Generals Nishanth Patil, and Muhammad Ali Khan and advocate D L Chidananda.
The court put a stay on Classes 8, 9th Standard half yearly public examination that was concluded on October 1.
Similarly, the court stayed the half yearly Board examination for Standard 10 that was concluded on October 1.
About 8 lakh children across the State reportedly appeared in this examination for 10th Standard.
In its order, the bench said, "In the meantime, the respondents shall not declare the results of the Half-Yearly Exams for the standards 8th, 9th and 10th, if taken, for any of the districts till further orders. It is further directed that if the said exams have not been undertaken, the same shall not be undertaken in future also".
Advocates K V Dhananjay and A Velan argued for the petitioner private unaided schools. Last week, the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had brought withdrawal orders to the court in respect of seven North Karnataka districts.
On Monday, Dhananjay informed the court that the government has only withdrawn the circular in respect of the seven North Karnataka districts.
He then said that they had not previously referred to about the half yearly Board examination for Standard 10 in the other 24 districts.
On March 12, 2024, the apex court had 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.
The appeal was filed by the Organisation for Unaided Recognised Schools against the March 22, judgement of the Karnataka High Court.
