[BREAKING] Karnataka High Court upholds State government decision to conduct SSLC Examination for 2021

The Karnataka High Court on Monday upheld the decision of the State government to conduct Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination for the academic year 2020-21, on July 19 and 20..A Bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Hanchate Sanjeevkumar dismissed a petition filed by one SV Singre Gowda seeking cancellation of examination in view of COVID-19 pandemic..The Court noted the submission of the Advocate General (AG), appearing for the State, that the exams will be held over the course of two days and all precautions will be taken. "We will have only 12 students in a classroom. One desk for one student. There will be social distancing, health screening, 2 paramedical staff," the AG said. The Court was further of the opinion that the holding of exam was "in the interest of students" and that the state has taken adequate precautionary measures against COVID-19 pandemic..The Bench observed that merely because II PUC exam was cancelled, it cannot be argued that SSLC exams should also be cancelled. "Unlike in the case of PUC, where data was available to assess students, there is no such data available in so far as schools are concerned so as to simply promote them. We find that there is no arbitrariness in decision of the State to hold the SSLC examination.".The Court was keen to note that the SSLC exam would be conducted in an encapsulated format by way of objective type questions only. "It is to ensure that students attend exams only for three hours in two days. Normally, it would have been for three hours, in six days", noted the Court. With these observations, the Court proceeded to dismiss the plea. "Court is not inclined to interfere in the matter. We find that State has taken care to conduct exam by issuing SOP in form of circular to be complied with by all students, teachers and all stakeholders. Petitioner not able to point out how State conducting exam is arbitrary. Hence, we do not find any merit in the petition. Hence, petition is dismissed," the Court ordered. .During the hearing, Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi assured the Court that all those who appear for the SSLC exam would be promoted. When the petitioner pointed out that ICSE and CBSE exams were cancelled for this year, the Court opined that the Centre had resorted to cancellation of those exams in May, as the pandemic was "raging" and at "its peak". However, the situation is different now, with only 1.28% being the positivity rate with regard to COVID-19, the Court remarked. .The petitioner, in his plea, had pointed out that online classes were not conducted properly in some institutions and that many children found it difficult to understand subjects via online classes.In fact, in rural areas, there is no facility to conduct classes via video conference and in some areas, not even a single class was conducted, the plea had said.Therefore, conducting SSLC examinations in these circumstances may not be the most appropriate, it was submitted..The plea also drew the attention of the Court to the fact that the State government canceled the second PUC Examination in view of COVID and passed all the students based on the marks obtained in the 10th standard, 1st PUC.Therefore, nothing prevents the government from adopting the same measures and finding solution to pass SSLC students, either on the basis of preparatory examination or on the basis of the marks obtained in the 9th standard, the petitioner contended.With children between the age group of 1 to 18 years not being vaccinated as yet and the new Covid-19 delta plus variant being detected in the State, conducting SSLC exam would mean exposing children to the dangers of the virus."Many parents are single parents or have a single child and if anything happens to that child can the state government get the life of the child back? Keeping this in view, canceling the examination is absolutely required," the petition said.In view of the above, the petition prayed for the cancellation of SSLC exams or alternatively to take appropriate remedial measures to pass all the SSLC students, irrespective of repeaters based on the marks obtained in the 8th, 9th, and preparatory examination which is conducted for 10th standard.