The Karnataka High Court has asked the state to conduct annual assessments as proposed for class 5 and 8 state board students across the state starting this academic year.

As against the single bench’s order calling for cancellation of exams, the special bench of the Karnataka High Court headed by Justice G Narender which heard the issue on Wednesday asked the state government to reschedule the exams to be starting from March 27.

The court has asked the state to ensure wide publicity to ensure all students are prepared and ordered to follow a no detention policy.

Responding to the same, one of the petitioners who sought cancellation of exams expressed displeasure. Lokesh T from the Registered Unaided Private Schools Association said, “We accept the judgement but are disappointed by the court in this regard. There was no prior mention of these board exams in the annual academic calendar which the department publishes at the start of any academic year. This has inconvenienced all educational institutions.

“We had approached the court after the inclusion of questions in model papers from Kalika Chetarike textbooks which were not prescribed for students in private unaided schools in Karnataka. This created a lot of unrest among teachers and confusion among students. At the least, we had at least pleaded that the exams be introduced from the next academic year and not at such short notice,” rued Lokesh.

Previously, RUPSA had approached the Karnataka HC in this regard where a single bench of the court had ruled that the exams be cancelled. The state appealed against the same and the matter was heard on March 14 and 15.

Lokesh also said that having exams scheduled from March 27 as directed by the HC will lead to hassles as the SSLC (class 10) board exams are set to begin from March 31.

Meanwhile, D Shashikumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Private Schools in Karnataka said, “We welcome the conditional approval of the Karnataka HC to conduct exams for classes 5 and 8. This is the need of the hour and welcome it. The court has realized the importance. It is not just 5 and 8, such assessments must be introduced for all from class 1 onwards as specified by the Right to Education Act.” 

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