Andhra tells SC it wants to hold Class 12 board exams in July-end

The Supreme Court had earlier said that it will hold the state responsible if even one life is lost because of the state deciding to conduct the exams physically.
Students attending an examination during the pandemic
Students attending an examination during the pandemic
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The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday, June 23, submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court that it will not be cancelling Class 12 State board exams and exuded confidence that it will be able to successfully conduct examinations as the number of COVID-19 cases are on the decline in the State. The state has said that there is no other reliable alternative than to hold the exams. The state government informed the court that experts have been consulted and that they are of the view that it would be feasible to conduct the examination. 

“Experts have been consulted and they are of the view that it will be feasible to hold the examination. The State accordingly shall endeavor to conduct the examination tentatively in the last week of July 2021. The actual time table shall be issued shortly and intimated to the Students and Parents 15 days in advance,” the Andhra government’s affidavit said. 

The Andhra government’s affidavit comes a day after the Supreme Court asked why the state government was “creating uncertainty in the minds of students” by delaying the final decision to hold the exams for the first week of July. “You will have to give very good reasons to hold Class 12 board examinations. If there is any fatality, we will hold the state responsible,” the Supreme Court bench had told the counsel for Andhra Pradesh.

In its affidavit submitted to the court on Wednesday, the state government defended its decision to hold board exams by saying that practical examinations were already conducted physically by the government. It was also mentioned in the affidavit that the state has no other reliable alternative to the examinations. Another point raised by the state government was that they do not have any mechanism in place to check the internal marks awarded by the schools and therefore it is imperative that a final result could not be decided based on the internal marks.   

The Andhra government said that around 5,19,510 students are scheduled to appear for Class 12 Intermediate Second Year examination and 5,12,959 Students are eligible to take the examination for Class 11 Intermediate 1st year examination.

The government also detailed the precautionary measures that will be taken shall be put in place in the event Andhra Pradesh is permitted to conduct examinations. The state said that Class 11 and Class 12 examinations will be held on alternate days and they will be required to appear for five or six subjects only. (Five subjects for Arts and six subjects for Science students) and hence students will only have to attend 5- 6 days of exams.

Only 15 to 18 students will be allotted to each examination centre (room size of approximately 25*25 feet) and social distancing of minimum 5 feet between each student shall be maintained, the government added.

Earlier, former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had slammed the government regarding its decision to hold examinations for class 10 and intermediate students. Naidu had termed it as a ‘leadership failure’. He had also stated that great responsibility lies on leaders to save the lives of people.

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