Board exams for Classes 5, 8: SC refuses to stay Karnataka high court order

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay a Karnataka high court order allowing the government to conduct board exams for students of Classes 5 and 8 studying the state board syllabus.

A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala, however, agreed to hear on March 27 a plea filed by associations of unaided private schools against the high court order.

The matter was mentioned before the bench seeking an urgent hearing.

''Let's not interfere with the high court order. The high courts know what is best in that state,'' the bench said and added that it does not want any uncertainty to prevail.

A division bench of the high court on March 15 had stayed an order of a single bench, which had set aside circulars dated December 12 and December 13, 2022, and January 4, 2023, issued by the Commissioner of Public Instructions and the Department of State Education.

The single bench had said the circulars are contrary to the intentions of the Right to Education Act under which they were issued.