In an unending turn of events pertaining to the class V, VIII and IX board exams in Karnataka, the Supreme Court has directed that the results of these exams not be announced. 

 

On Monday, in an interim order, the Apex Court asked the state not to announce results of the exams which were completed late last month. Division bench of the SC Justices Bela Trivedi and Pankaj Mittal passed this order. 

 

“The evaluation and results are stayed. Parents shall not be informed about the results. The results shall not be used for any purpose whatsoever. Announcement of results is stayed,” said advocate KV Dhananjay who represented the Registered Unaided Private Schools Association (RUPSA). 

 

The impact of the verdict would affected over 30 lakh students and another 70 lakh parents, teachers and school personnel, according to the petitioners. 

 

T Lokesh, president, RUPSA said, “The results of exams which the state government took up as a challenge to finish has been stopped by the supreme court. There are three key aspects to the verdict. Firstly, the results which were to be announced today have to be withheld. These exams have also been declared null and void over the manner in which it was conducted. 

 

“The supreme court has also set aside the verdict issued by the Karnataka High Court which had asked the state government to conduct these exams at the earliest in the interest of students,” said Lokesh, adding “some officials in the department with an ulterior motive and a dictatorship attitude took it upon themselves that the exams was conducted. This is in violation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.” 

 

Ironically, most private and government schools in the City have already announced results for these summative assessments (board exams) on Monday. 

 

D Shashikumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Private Schools in Karnataka said, “Exam results were announced between 9-10 am in most schools on Monday. As per the state government’s directive, the evaluated answer scripts were recieved by schools and the scores were converted into grades two days ago.” 

 

It maybe recollected that several private schools said that they had recieved answer scripts from a district level evaluation pool which were not evaluated or those with several discrepancies. Kumar said that barring those cases, particularly in class IX, results for all others have been announced. 

 

“This decision has again made way for confusion as the results have been announced already. This being the case, we are awaiting the education department directive on further course of action,” he added. 

 

Despite schools being in a situation of uncertainty over the already announced results, the department of public instruction refused to issue a clarification or statement, leaving schools in the lurch.