No board exams for classes 5, 8, 9 and 11: Karnataka minister

Putting an end to the confusion over board exams for classes 5, 8, 9 and 11 in state, Minister for School Education and Literacy Madhu Bangarappa has said that there will be no board exams for these classes this year.

He was addressing a news conference in the city on Friday. The minister said that the department had taken the decision following the recent direction by the Supreme Court.

“Instead of board exams, we will conduct a Summative Assessment-2 (SA-2) for the classes 5, 8 and 9 students and an annual exam will be held for class 11,” the minister added.

Madhu said that with regard to the board exams for classes 5, 8, 9 and 11 an affidavit had also been submitted to the top court.

“The case is pending before the Supreme Court for final orders and we will abide by that order. But for now, as per the Court’s observation and direction, we have decided not to hold board exams for these grades,” he added.

In the academic year 2023-24, the department had issued a notification to conduct board exams for classes 5, 8, 9 and 11. This was challenged by the private school managements association in the court.

The single judge of the High Court stayed the exams on March 6, 2024. But the same was challenged by the government and the division bench allowed the department to conduct exams on March 22.

However, the division bench order was challenged by the associations in the Supreme Court which stayed the Karnataka High Court order of March 22. However, by this time the department had completed exams and results were also announced.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, a couple of days ago, observed that it was not permissible to conduct board exams for classes 5,8 and 9 in the face of an interim order and wondered why the state was so ‘’bent on harassing the people.’’