CHENNAI: Madras High Court on Tuesday set aside an order of a single judge directing the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan to hold a one-time supplementary exam for class XI students who have failed in more than one subject.
“The specific rule is that the candidate has to pass the examination in all the subjects in Class XI in order to be promoted to Class XII,” the bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice PD Audikesavalu noted while setting aside the single judge’s order.
As a one-time measure, this court directs the KV Sangathan to conduct supplementary examinations for all the students, throughout Tamil Nadu, who failed in more than one subject, to enable them to come out successful and get promoted to Class XII for pursuing their studies, he had ordered.
The appeals were filed by the KV Sangathan against a recent order of Justice M Dhandapani on a batch of petitions filed by students who had failed in more than one subject in Class XI in the 2022-23 academic year.
While those students having failed in one subject were allowed to take the supplementary exam, the others who failed in more than one subject were denied the opportunity to clear the arrears and get eligible to be promoted to Class XII.
The single judge noted, in the order, Article 14 warrants equal treatment to be meted out to all the students irrespective of the number of subjects in which they have failed.
Reportedly, Kendriya Vidyalaya has a system in which students who failed in one subject are categorised into a section called ‘compartment’ and those who have failed in more than one subject are categorised into ‘essential repeat’.
The failure should not be the basis to create a class within itself, which is an inequality and a direct affront to Article 14 of the Constitution, he had held.