Supreme Court declines to stay Karnataka High Court order on board exams for class 5, 8

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to stay a Karnataka High Court order, which allowed the government to conduct board exams for students of Classes 5 and 8 in schools affiliated to the Karnataka state board.

Counsel, representing the associations of unaided private schools, mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala, seeking an urgent hearing.

The bench said it would not like to interfere with the high court order, adding: "The high courts know what is best in that state".

Counsel contended that the examinations are scheduled to begin on March 27, and the matter could be taken up on an earlier date. The top court said it does not want any uncertainty to prevail.

After hearing submissions, the top court agreed to examine the plea against the high court order on March 27.

A division bench of the high court on March 15, had stayed the single judge bench order passed earlier this month, quashing the government circulars on the ground that they were issued in violation of the procedure under the Right of Children To Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.

The government circulars issued on December 12, 2022, December 13, 2022, and January 4, 2023, have been questioned by the Unaided Recognised Schools, the Registered Unaided Private Schools' Management Association Karnataka, and Karnataka Unaided Schools Management Association. It was contended that changing the assessment method by conducting state-level aboard exams, instead of school-level assessment, will adversely impact the students and the teachers.

The high court, last week, allowed the state government to go ahead with the new method of assessment similar to board exams for classes 5 and 8 and to reschedule the examinations from March 27.