In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Monday intervened in the Karnataka government’s educational policies by halting the declaration of board examination results for classes 8, 9, and 10 until further notice. This move comes as a rebuke to what the court termed as “harassing” students through these examinations.
Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma, presiding over the matter, issued a stern directive to the Karnataka government, emphasizing the need for student welfare over bureaucratic measures. “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,” the bench stated during the proceedings.
The court also instructed that if exams had not been conducted in any district yet, they should not proceed. This decision casts a spotlight on the unique educational model adopted by Karnataka, which the bench noted was not followed by any other state.
Senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, representing the Karnataka government, informed the court that a previously issued circular mandating board exams for students in classes 5, 8, 9, and 10 in seven rural districts had been withdrawn. However, exams had already been conducted in 24 other districts.
The Supreme Court has requested the Karnataka government to submit a detailed affidavit within four weeks, providing precise information about the examinations conducted.
This judicial intervention is the result of an appeal by the Organisation for Unaided Recognised Schools against the Karnataka High Court’s March 22 judgment, which had allowed the state to proceed with the board exams for the 2023-24 academic year. This ruling had overturned a March 6 decision by a single judge of the high court that annulled the state’s October 2023 decision to conduct these exams through the Karnataka State Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB).
