The Kerala government has decided to cancel the practical examination for the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) due to the pandemic situation. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the media on May 22, Saturday, that the SSLC practical examination will be cancelled while that of Higher Secondary and Vocational Higher Secondary will be held from June 21 to July 7. The valuation of SSLC, Higher Secondary, and Vocational Higher Secondary will be held from June 1 to June 19 while that of SSLC examinations will be done from June 7 to June 25. The teachers assigned for valuation will be vaccinated prior to the commencement of it.
The state government in April had postponed the Plus-Two and vocational higher secondary practical examinations amid the surge in the COVID-19 cases. The practical exams were scheduled to take place on April 28, after the theory exams that were concluded on April 26. There has been a demand by the teachers' organisations as well to reconsider the practical examinations given the pandemic situation.
Though the Chief Minister has maintained that the peak of the second wave of the pandemic is over in the state, Kerala continues to report a high number of cases. Kerala on Saturday reported 28,514 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the caseload to 22,92,091, while 176 deaths pushed the toll to 7,170.
Recoveries outnumbered fresh cases with 45,400 people being discharged, taking the total number to 20,25,319, while 2,89,283are undergoing treatment for the infection. The Test Positivity Rate stood at 22.63 %, a health department bulletin said. Malappuram district accounted for the maximum of 3,932 cases, followed by Thiruvananthapuram, which reported 3,300 cases. Ernakulam and Palakkad also reported over 3,000 cases each.
Of the new cases, 123 were health workers, 214 had come from outside the state and 26,347 were infected through contact. As many as 9,69,946 people are currently under quarantine, including 38,743 people who are in hospitals, the bulletin said. A total of 1,26,028 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative tests to 1,86,81,051so far.
With PTI Inputs