Why are you harassing students?: Supreme Court to Karnataka

The Supreme Court of India has ordered a stay on the declaration of half-yearly exam results for classes 8 to 10 in Karnataka until further notice. The direction follows a plea against the state’s decision to hold mid-year board exams, with the court criticizing the state for deviating from the annual exam model followed nationwide.

Supreme Court NEW DELHI: SC on Monday ordered a stay on the declaration of half-yearly exam results for class 8, 9, and 10 in any district of Karnataka until further notice. The direction came after one of the counsel informed the court about the half-yearly board exam for class 10 . SC issued the direction while hearing a plea against the state govt’s decision to hold board exams for class 5, 8, 9 and 11 in schools affiliated with the Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board .

Expressing surprise, the court noted that no other state conducts half-yearly board exams and remarked that such exams “cannot happen,” referring to the state’s stance as an “ego issue.” SC: Karnataka can’t declare half-yearly board results for class 8, 9 and 10 A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and SC Sharma reiterated that board exams are typically held annually, not half-yearly. “Why are you harassing the students? You are the state.

You should not behave like this. If you are really concerned about the welfare of students, then please open good schools. Do not throttle them,” the bench told senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, who appeared before it on behalf of the state govt.

The bench said no other state follows this model of education that is being followed by Karnataka. The counsel for the K’taka govt stated that they would file an affidavit explaining that the exams were introduced due to declining student marks. The court granted the state govt time to file its affidavit but, in the meantime, ordered that the results of the half-yearly board exams for classes 8, 9, and 10th should not be declared in any district until further orders.

Advocates K V Dhananjay and A Velan, appearing on behalf of the petitioners, said earlier they had issued circulars for seven districts and had brought the matter to the apex court's notice. The court was hearing an appeal from Organisation for Unaided Recognised Schools against a March 22 judgment of the Karnataka HC . “They (the state govt) withdrew the circular for seven districts.

Later, we came to know that the exams were held in 24 other districts as well,” Dhananjay said..