The Telangana government has decided to cancel all Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams (for Class 10 state board students), in a major relief for students in the state. A press note from Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's Office said that all students now stand promoted and will be graded based on their internal assessment marks.
The decision was taken as it would not be possible to conduct Class 10 examinations due to the spread of coronavirus in the state.
The CM held a high-level review meeting on Monday at Pragathi Bhavan in Hyderabad on the issue. Senior officials from the Education ministry and school Education department were present, including Education Minister Sabita Indrareddy, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Special Chief Secretary for Education, Chitra Ramachandran, Board of Secondary Education Director Satynarayan Reddy among others.
There are a total of 5,34,903 Class 10 students in the state and they have written examinations for three papers earlier. However, due to the spread of COVID-19, all the exams were postponed as per High Court orders.
"The methods adopted regarding the examinations in other states have also been examined. The matter of what should be done in Telangana state was also discussed at length. Then the method to be implemented in the Telangana state was finalised," stated the official note from the Chief Minister's office.
It was also mentioned that the government would take a decision on Degree and Postgraduate Courses examinations based on the situation that will prevail in the near future.
Teachers and parents associations have expressed their happiness over the cancellation of exams.
Meanwhile in Tamil Nadu, the state government is engaged in a legal battle as many have approached court demanding that the exams scheduled to start on June 15 should be postponed. With the number of COVID-19 cases rising in Tamil Nadu and specifically in Chennai, many parents and teachers have questioned the decision to hold exams. The government however seems to be in no mood to postpone or even promote students without examinations.