No 3rd wave in sight: SC allows Kerala’s Class XI offline exams

The Supreme Court on Friday lifted an earlier interim stay it had imposed on conducting Class XI examinations offline in the state, justifying the decision on the grounds that there seemed to be no third wave in sight.

The top court had, on September 3, stalled the state’s move to hold offline exams, citing the alarming Covid figures in the state.“The situation in Kerala is alarming. It accounts for more than 70% of the cases in the country, with around 30,000 cases reported daily. Children of tender age cannot be exposed to risk,” Justice AM Khanwilkar had observed then.

The bench had also asked the state government to come up with alternate forms of assessing students by the next hearing.


In an affidavit filed subsequently, the state government pointed out that it had successfully conducted examinations for Class 12 and other entrance exams for lakhs of students. The state said that it was imperative to hold the exams as the marks were added to the plus-two results for the purposes of admission to higher education courses.

Besides this, online examinations would place rural students, with no access to the Internet, in a very disadvantageous position, the state said.All these factors seem to have weighed with the top court in vacating the stay. The court said that the state affidavit had convinced it that the stay was not required.

“We hope and trust that the authorities will take all precautions and necessary steps to ensure no untoward situation is faced by students who are of tender age and are appearing for the examination,” the bench said.“Earlier, we had intervened because there were reports of a third wave…,” the bench said.

The court was dealing with an appeal filed by A Rasoolan, challenging the Kerala High Court order refraining from interfering with the decision to hold offline exams.