SC sets aside HC interim order on board exams for classes 5, 8, 9, and 11

The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside an interim order of a Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court permitting the State to hold board exams for classes five, eight, nine, and 11.

A Bench of Justices observed that the Division Bench of the High Court ought not have allowed the conduct of board examination through an interim order after two Single Bench decisions had earlier quashed similar notifications or circulars.

The top court observed that the proposed board exam was prima facie in

the teeth of Sections 2(f), 16 and 30 of the Right to Education Act, which prohibit exposing children to the rigours of board exams till they finish elementary education.

The State notifications were challenged by the Registered Unaided Private Schools Management Association (RUPSA) and the Organisation for Unaided Recognised Schools. The Single Bench of the Karnataka High Court had quashed the notification.

The Single Judge had relied on the decision of a Coordinate Bench in the previous year to quash similar circulars of the State to conduct board exams for classes five and eight.

However, a Division Bench of the High Court had the very next day, on March 7, stayed the Single Judge order. The petitioners, represented by advocates K.V. Dhananjay, A. Velan, Sudharsan Suresh, Anirudh Kulkarni, Sainath D.M., Ananya Krishna, and Dheeraj S.J., had moved the apex court.

The petitioners contended that the State, by insisting on exposing younger children to the board, was risking the repeat of the tragedies of March 2023.