Shivamogga: School Education and Literacy Minister Madhu Bangarappa said that the government will take appropriate measures to protect students' interests following a High Court directive on the third language subject grading issue in the SSLC exam.

The minister told reporters Wednesday that the High Court instructed the state government to assign marks instead of grades for the third language this year. He noted the court did not object to using grades for the third language starting next academic year, only directing the use of marks for the current year. "We will abide by the court order," he said, adding he would discuss the matter with the chief minister to take appropriate steps to protect students' interests.

When asked about students who might have failed third languages, including Hindi, under the assumption that grades would be given, the minister assured that justice would be done for those students. Madhu also said he expects SSLC results to improve this year due to the efforts of teachers, officials, parents and the department's proactive measures. "The teachers and officials worked extra hard to improve both PUC and SSLC results," he said.

He highlighted that 77 government colleges achieved 100 percent results in the PUC exam across the state this year. Last year, about 30,000 students failed all subjects, but that number has improved to 1,777 this year. The minister acknowledged that teacher recruitment has been delayed due to the internal reservation issue, but stated that the issue would be resolved and recruitment would begin. "We will ensure that the teachers are recruited as soon as possible," he said.