'Why are you harassing students': Supreme Court restrains Karnataka govt from conducting half-yearly board exams for Classes 8,9 & 10

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday restrained the Karnataka government 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.

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma came down heavily upon the state government led by senior advocate Devadatt Kamat for defending their decision.

Taking up a matter, the bench made strong observations and asked the state counsel, "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 said 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Kamat said that the state government has withdrawn a circular for conducting board examinations for students of classes 5, 8, 9 and 10 in the current academic year in seven rural districts of the state.

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 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 took this examination for 10th Standard.

"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," the bench said in its order.

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. 

The court had then asked Dhananjay to verify and revert.

Dhananjay informed the court that the Government has only withdrawn the circular in respect of the seven North Karnataka districts.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.

The high court's division bench had permitted the state government to conduct the board exams for different classes for the academic year 2023-24, overruling the March 6 order of a single judge's bench.

The single judge of the high court had nullified the state government's decision of October 2023 to hold board exams for different classes through the Karnataka State Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB).