Alarming by Covid-19 situation in Kerala, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed a state government decision to hold offline Class 11 exams. The court ordered the exams be paused for a week, saying: “Children of tender age can’t be exposed to the risk (of contracting the virus)”.
“There is an alarming situation in Kerala. It accounts for more than 70 per cent of cases in the country, with around 35,000 daily cases. Children of tender age can’t be exposed to this risk,” a bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice C.T. Ravikumar said.
In its order, the apex court stated, “We grant interim relief staying offline exam for till next date of hearing. List this matter on September 13.”
The bench was hearing an appeal against the Kerala High court order refusing to interfere with the decision to hold offline exams.
The appeal filed by one Rasoolshan A. stated that holding physical exams when the COVID-19 cases are at their peak in the state was a huge risk, especially since the children are not vaccinated.
Around three lakh students will take the exam scheduled to be held from September 6 and as the students pursuing class XI are largely unvaccinated, they are very vulnerable to the virus, argued advocate Prashant Padmanabhan appearing for Rasoolshan.
During the hearing, advocate C.K. Sasi, appearing for the Kerala government, defended the state government’s decision to hold the exams offline and submitted that all safety protocols have already been taken care of.
“Assure us that no student will be infected. These are children of tender age. Even one case reported for a student, we will hold you accountable,” the bench told Kerala government’s counsel.
The apex court said that the Kerala government may think of alternate forms of assessment and inform it on the next date, 13 September.
Reacting to the development, Kerala education minister V. Sivankutty on Friday said the state will implement the Supreme Court’s interim order which stayed the Kerala government’s decision to hold offline exams for Class 11 from September 6, amid rising cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in the state.
“Supreme Court has asked us to submit the statement of facts of scientific preparations to conduct examination and on what background the decision to conduct examination has been taken. The Education Department will submit the reports before September 13,” he said.
Further, the minister added that 4,22,000 students have written Kerala Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination and 4.5 lakh students have written higher secondary examinations successfully. “There were no lapses in conducting the examinations and on the basis of that experience, we had decided to conduct class XI (Plus One) examination,” he said.
“The students who appeared for examination were in good confidence and with the support of the students and parents, we had decided to conduct the examination,” he added.
Sivankutty reiterated that the Kerala government would implement the Supreme Court’s order, and on the basis of its final order, will move further.