VIJAYAWADA: The State government has finally postponed the Intermediate examinations, which were scheduled from May 5 to 19. The move comes days after the High Court directed the government to reconsider its decision to hold the exams in view of surge in Covid-19 cases in the State.
All the opposition parties strongly demanded that the government cancel the SSC and Intermediate exams in the best interest of students and the staff.With the postponement of exams, the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) announced holidays for all junior colleges in the State from May 3 to till the announcement of fresh exam dates. All the teaching and non-teaching staff should attend the colleges as and when the new exam dates are announced, a release by the BIE said.
Announcing the postponement of Intermediate exams, Education Minister Audimulapu Suresh said the decision was taken respecting the High Court’s suggestion. New Intermediate exam dates will be announced once normalcy is restored, he said.
Elaborating further, he said as the Union government did not give clear instructions to States on conduct of SSC and Intermediate exams, a few States have cancelled the exams and awarded pass marks to students.
However, some States went ahead with the conduct of exams and awarded grades as per the students’ scores.
Similarly, the Andhra Pradesh government had also decided to conduct the SSC and Intermediate exams as grades play an important role in students’ career, thus scheduled Intermediate exams from May 5. But considering the High Court suggestion in the wake of sharp spike in Covid cases, the government had postponed the exams, he explained.
He reiterated that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is more concerned about students, their health and future. “Not only a plethora of welfare programmes to benefit the students were introduced, but also measures were taken to ensure that the precious academic year of students is not lost. Hence, it was decided to conduct the exams taking every precaution. However, with increasing number of daily Covid count and rising concerns, the exams were postponed,” he said.