Karnataka High Court Removes Board Exams For Classes 5, 8, 9 and PUCThe Karnataka High Court in an order passed by a single bench headed by Justice Krishna Dixit quashed the decision to conduct board exams for Classes 5, 8, 9, and Pre – University Course (PUC) first year which were scheduled from March 11. The decision came in response to the petition filed by Registered Associations of Private Unaided Schools.
Reportedly, Karnataka State Examination and Assessment Board introduced a ‘centralised annual examination’ for classes 5 and 8 last year and through a notification issued in September 2023, informed about the board exams for class 9 and first year of PUC (class 11). As per the State Board, no student shall be detained if they fail. In such cases, the school shall inform the students and parents about the result personally. And for PUC, the board will conduct a supplementary exam at the college level, if a student fails.
The Registered Associations of Private Unaided Schools argued that conducting board examinations for 5, 8, 9, and 11 violates the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) model under the Right to Education Act (RTE), 2009. As per the RTE under CCE the exam and evaluation for classes 5,8,9 and 11 should not be board exams or centralised rather they should be done at the school level and the assessment of students should be based on their learning abilities.
In the petition, the Association argued that when the question paper and evaluation are conducted at the board and taluk level instead of the school level, it impacts the children’s learning curve. Furthermore, it creates anxiety and fear among students and will discourage students from going to school.
Notably, last year the school education board introduced conducted board exams for classes 5, 8, and 9 and the decision was upheld by the State High Court and Supreme Court. The court directed the government to confidentially inform about the result if he or she failed without detaining them. The Court also directed that examination should be asked from the syllabus only.
However, the state education department decision was against the NEP 2020 which emphasizes holistic and competency-based development. Recently, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has come up with an innovative method of analysis of the wards learning at foundational stages. Under the new assessment methodology, students in the early stages of education will get feedback from teachers, parents, and friends. Under the new Assessment method, a Holistic Progress Card (HPC) will be prepared for the analysis of the foundational stage of learning. The progress cards are following the National Education Policy 2020.