Karnataka HC directs govt. to keep in abeyance exams scheduled on March 13 and 14 for classes 5 and 8  

Division bench to continue hearing on March 14 govt’s appeal against single judge’s verdict of quashing new method of assessment

A division bench of the High Court of Karnataka on Saturday, March 11, directed the State government to keep in abeyance the examinations, scheduled on March 13 and 14 for classes 5 and 8, till the court hears the appeal filed by the Government against the verdict of the single judge, who had quashed the new method of assessment by conducting uniform exams for these classes from the present academic year.

A special division bench comprising Justice G. Narendar and Justice Ashok S. Kinagi passed the interim order while pointing out that it cannot decide the appeal filed the government without going through single judge’s verdict, which is yet to be released.

The single judge had only read out the operative operation of the verdict on March 10. Though the Bench heard the government’s appeal in detail, it adjourned further hearing till March 14. The Bench said it has to ascertain, before passing any order, the reasons given by the single judge for quashing the December 12, 2022, circular, issued by the government introducing the uniform method for assessment from this academic year itself.

The Bench was constituted to hear the appeal on the request of the government on an urgent basis, even though Saturdays are not a regular sitting day for the court.

Meanwhile, the Bench directed the government to issue publication in both the print and electronic media with regard to the “nill consequences of the proposed examinations”. That is, to inform the students and the parents the students of classes 5 and 8 will not be detailed or failed based on their performance in the proposed new method of assessment.

“The present proposed exercise appears to be nothing more but a test off skills of all the students on a common platform or a common question paper,” the Bench observed, on the no-detention policy in class 5 and 8.

Also, the Bench noted that if the December 12, 2022, circular is appreciated in the background of the provisions of the RTE Act and in the light of the clarification carried in the circular itself, the new assessment process “does not retard the progress of the child, at best, the exercise mooted under the circular could be equated with a monthly test or a weekly or a review test, which are conducted by the schools without qualms.”