The Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL) has said they will challenge the High Court order quashing board exams for Classes 5, 8, 9 and 11, before the Division Bench and seek an urgent hearing. Exams for Classes 5, 8 and 9 are scheduled to begin from March 11. Students and parents have now been pushed to confusion.
“We will challenge this order before a Division Bench and given the tight schedule of the exams, we will seek an urgent hearing on Thursday,” said Ritesh Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary, DSEL. Thursday will be the only working day for the High Court of Karnataka before Monday, as the court will be closed for the weekend due to Shivaratri on Friday followed by a second Saturday.
Meanwhile, Lokesh Talikatte, one of the petitioners challenging board exams and the president of Registered Unaided Private Schools Management Association (RUPSA-Karnataka), said if the Department challenges the High Court Order, they will also contest it, indicating a tough legal battle ahead.
Exams to be postponed?
Given the lack of time before the scheduled exams, if the Division Bench of the High Court doesn’t give a clear ruling on Thursday, the exams for classes 5, 8 and 9 will likely be postponed, sources in DSEL said. However, officials hoped they would get a stay order on Wednesday’s court order and exams will be held as per schedule.
Confusion among students, teachers and parents
Wednesday’s court order has pushed students, teachers and parents into confusion about whether the exams will be held on Monday or not, and whether they will be board examinations or school examinations.
Arun Kumar, a parent from Bengaluru, said with only four days left for the exams, the court order had created confusion and made students anxious. “The government will likely get only one day on Thursday, as the court will be closed on the weekend. The Department hasn’t yet announced whether the exams will be held or will be postponed. There is confusion. These students are small children of classes 5, 8 and 9. They are stressed,” he said.
“We were doing last minute preparation for the exams and now there is uncertainty over whether they will be held on Monday. This will definitely put more pressure on students, who are already under exam pressure,” said a government school teacher.
However, H.N. Gopalakrishna, Director, Karnataka State Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB), expressed confidence that exams will be held as per schedule. “Last year too, a lower bench of the High Court struck down our exams, but it was upheld by a Division Bench and later by the Supreme Court. So we are confident that it will turn out to be the same again this year too,” he said.
A sense of deja vu
The entire sequence of events has created a sense of deja vu as in 2023 too, board exams for classes 5 and 8, were quashed by the High Court of Karnataka and exams were postponed and eventually held after the Supreme Court allowed for them.
The DSEL introduced board exams for classes 5 and 8 in 2022-23 and expanded it to classes 9 and 11 in 2023-24. In 2022-23, the Department had scheduled board exams for classes 5 and 8 between March 13 and 18, 2023. However, the High Court struck down these exams, after hearing a petition from private school managements. The DSEL had questioned this order before the division bench and the bench had upheld the government decision. Further, the division bench’s order was challenged before the Supreme Court and the court had permitted the government to conduct the examination. Finally, the exams were held from March 27, 2023, across the State.
