SC pulls up Karnataka govt for 'harassing' students through board exams

New Delhi, Oct 21 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Karnataka government for "harassing" students by conducting board exams for different classes, and restrained it from declaring results of board examinations of classes 8, 9 and 10 till further orders.

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma directed that if the exam has not been conducted in any district, then it shall not be taken.

"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 told senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for the Karnataka government.

The bench said no other state follows this model of education which is being followed 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Kamat said that the state government has withdrawn a circular for conducting board examinations for students of classes 5, 8, 9 and 10 in the current academic year in seven rural districts of the state.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 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 top court was hearing an appeal filed by 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). PTI