VIJAYAWADA: In a last-minute development, the State government on Saturday deferred the declaration of SSC examination results to Monday. Two days ago, the education department had announced that the SSC results would be declared at 11 am on Saturday by Special Chief Secretary (Education) B Rajasekhar in Vijayawada.
A few hours before the scheduled time, Director of Government Examinations D Devanand Reddy said the SSC results declaration has been postponed to Monday due to some "technical reasons". The director, however, did not mention the particular cause of postponement. Nearly 6.2 lakh students appeared for the examinations, which were held from April 27 to May 9, after the exams were cancelled in the two previous academic years due to the COVID pandemic.
Earlier, the school education department announced that it was awarding marks instead of grades for the SSC examinations from this academic year. Announcing the results of SSC by the Education Minister is a tradition in several states, including Andhra Pradesh. It is likely that Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana may release the SSC results for the 2021-22 academic year on Monday.
Accusing the State government of postponing the declaration of SSC exam results over "political reasons", TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh sought to know what wrong the innocent children had done. "The officials have reportedly failed to inform the Education Minister about the declaration of SSC exam results. Unbelievable incidents are taking place under the lawless rule of Jagan Mohan Reddy," the TDP MLC alleged.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Lokesh appealed to the government not to play dangerous games with the future of students. "What was the real reason for postponing the results? Was it because the minister was unhappy or for changing marks?" Lokesh sought to know.
The TDP MLC also demanded an explanation from the government to the children and parents.How could the SSC examination results be postponed at the last minute? he questioned.
Meanwhile, students' unions too criticised the last-minute announcement of the government. Speaking to the media, State executive member of Students' Federation of India (SFI) M Someswara Rao described it as a shame.
"This was probably for the first time in the history of the State that such a last-minute change has been made, much to the chagrin of the stakeholders," he said. He demanded that Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana give an explanation to the students and parents, who waited for the results from the early hours of Saturday.