Second PU Exams: Karnataka High Court asks for State response in plea seeking same evaluation criteria for freshers and repeaters

The Karnataka High Court today sought the response of the State government in a petition seeking directions to the authorities to follow the same assessment method for repeat students of second year Pre-University (PU) exams as that of regular PUC students for award of marks for the 2020-2021 academic year..The results of all II PU students in the State of Karnataka are to be declared today..A Division Bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Hanchate Sanjeevkumar issued notice in the matter..The matter has been adjourned to July 27..While dealing with a different petition earlier, the State government had informed the Karnataka High Court that it would pass all the repeaters of the PU exam by giving them grace marks, in addition to the marks that they had secured in their earlier attempt..The Court was further informed that the State would promote regular or freshers of II year PU courses by giving 45 percent weightage for their SSLC marks, 45 percent for I PU marks, and 10 per cent for internal assessment marks of II PU..However, the Court was told that the private candidates, who are appearing for the II PU exams for the first time, will have to appear for the exam that would be conducted when the COVID-19 situation in the State subsides..The petition moved by Karnataka EWS 1512 Residential Social Welfare Association states that the report submitted by the State-appointed committee, which gives the formula for passing II PU students without them appearing for examination, is prepared without application of mind..In fact, it discriminates between fresh students and the repeaters/private students, contended the plea."The act of the 3rd respondent by awarding marks using different yardsticks to similarly placed students based on a so-called expert committee report without assigning any valid reason is a clear violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India," it stated..The repeater students and those private students having their first year PUC marks also should be awarded marks based on their 10th standard and 1st year PU marks, contends the plea..It is the petitioner’s case that the repeater students have attended second year PU classes in offline mode and that they have put in more effort than the regular candidates..On these grounds, the plea prays to treat the repeater students at par with fresh students by following the same methodology adopted for the latter in the matter of awarding marks for repeaters..Additionally, the plea seeks a direction to the respondent to grant at least 45% marks which is the basic requirement for various courses instead of 40% marks, so that the majority of repeater students can avoid appearing in improvement examinations, which may increase their risk of getting infected with the virus.