Karnataka High Court rejects board exams for classes 5, 8, 9 and 11

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday rejects the proposal of the school education department to conduct board exams for classes 5, 8, 9, and 11 for the state board syllabus. The single-judge bench headed by Justice Krishna Dixit upheld the arguments of the registered associations of private schools who argued that conducting board examinations for these classes violates the continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) model under the Right to Education Act (RTE) 2009.

The private management association also argued that conducting board examinations for students of classes 5, 8, and 9 will create anxiety and fear among students and will discourage students from going to school. The Karnataka State Examination and Assessment Board introduced a ‘centralized annual examination’ for classes 5 and 8 in the previous academic year, while the government introduced the same for class 9.

In March 2022 the division bench consisting of Justice G Narendra and Justice Ashok Kinagi allowed the government to conduct board exams for class 5 and class 8 students studying the state board syllabus.

The court also directed the government to confidentially inform the student who has failed and to give the student the necessary training and remedial classes to improve the learning skills, without detaining him/her.