Despite COVID-19 scare, Telangana govt goes ahead with SSC exams

The Telangana government has decided to go ahead with the Secondary School Certificates (SSC) examinations, which began on Thursday and would continue till 6th April, 2020. This, even as the Union Human Resource Development Ministry asked the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), and all other boards to postpone the ongoing exams for Class 10 and 12. in light of the coronavirus outbreak.

In view of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, the state government has made special arrangements and issued instructions for students who are writing their exams from Thursday. About 5.3 lakh students are appearing for the Class 10 board exams in the state of which 2.7 lakh are boys and 2.6 lakh are girls. Of all the students, more than 5 lakh students are taking their exam as regular candidates while the rest 25 thousand students are taking it as private candidates.

Meanwhile, Telangana on Wednesday reported eight Covid-19 positive cases, including seven Indonesians, taking the total number of cases in the state so far to 13 and prompting Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to call an emergency meeting on Thursday.

Students are not allowed to gather before or after their examinations at their respective centers as large gatherings increase the risk of coronavirus spreading through close contact. Students were allowed into the exam hall from 8.30 am onwards, which is one hour ahead of their exam time. Many students were spotted outside the exam hall before the exam began, wearing masks.

A two-minute instruction is also being given to students before the start of the exam to not touch their face and to sanitise their hands as frequently as possible. 

All the centers were also asked to clean the benches with a wet cloth everyday after the examination, Venkata Narsamma, District Education Officer (DEO), Hyderabad, said.

"The students who are infected with any kind of flu and show symptoms of cold or cough would be made to sit in a separate room set up in almost all the exam centers in the state," she added.

The state government however, is not conducting any separate tests on students, to check their temperature. It is only with the symptoms and the self-declared information provided by the students, which would be used by SSC officials to determine whether a student has to sit in a separate class or not.

In view of this, a Chief Superintendent appointed at each exam center would go to all the classrooms before the exam begins and separate the students with cold or cough to another room, the government said. 

Students were also asked to bring their own water bottles and sanitisers to the examinations and the centers are provided with soap and water facilities at washrooms. Officials also said that they would ensure regular cleaning of the toilets.

This time, there are 2,530 exam centers that were set up in the state with a Chief Superintendent at each center. About 144 flying squads were also appointed to check malpractice during the exams.