The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to postpone the class 10 board exam in the state. Any further decision will be taken after the situation is reviewed in July. The class 10 exams in the state were to be held from June 7 to June 16, 2021. The reason for the postponement is the covid -19 surge and also there are many cases filed in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh to postpone the examinations by students and parents.
Many cases in the AP high court demand either to cancel or to postpone the class 10 exams amidst the raging pandemic. The AP government was reluctant to cancel the SSC exam in the state, however, the government has to back down, as examinations in this situation are not conducive.
Earlier too, the court intervened with the AP government’s decision to hold the class 10 and intermediate exams in the state. The court asked to reconsider the decision of taking the exam amidst the severe pandemic situation. Hence, the government postponed the intermediate exams in the state.
“Respecting the Court’s opinion, we have decided to postpone the intermediate examination”, said the education minister of AP, A Suresh. However back then the class 10 exams were not postponed. But, today the Government had to postpone the SSC (class 10) exams taking into consideration the present situation in the state and strong resistance from the student community.
The AP government had reduced the syllabus for AP SSC exams this year. Usually, SSC examinations were conducted every year with 11 papers but this year the Andhra Pradesh Board has decided to reduce it to 7 papers only.
Talking about the inter 1st and 2nd-year exams, that is the class 11 and 12 exams in the state, there is no final call yet. The exams stand postponed until further notice. The class 12 boards in the state were scheduled to be held from May 5. However, has been postponed, and no call has been taken for class 12 exams yet. As per the reports more than 10 lakh students are expected to appear for the intermediate exams this year.
However, at the high-level meet on May 23, 2021, Education Minister Audimulapu Suresh had discussed the steps to be taken for the conduct of entrance tests and Class 12 exams, which will be held under strict Covid-19 protocols.
It seems like the state is ready to hold the intermediate exams soon. For the arrangements, the minister has explained how the instructions had been passed on to officials concerned to arrange an isolation center at all examination centers, and sanitation measures will be intensified in all of the test centers.
He also quoted: “We have taken steps to train teachers, reduce online classes, and conduct examinations on time. Steps are being taken to administer vaccines to the teachers before the examinations. For this, the vaccine quota allotted to the state may be increased.”
Thus, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the class 11 and 12 examinations are expected to be held son and the dates are to be made available in due course. However, the class 10 exams now stand postponed and not cancelled, though. Any decision on the SSC exams will be taken in July after reviewing the situation.
