The Telangana Chief Minister on Tuesday announced that the state government hopes to conduct the pending Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations in May. The Telangana High Court had earlier deferred the SSC examinations in the state on March 20.
The Advocate General representing the state government will approach the High Court for permission, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao informed on Tuesday.
So far, only three SSC examinations have been held and eight exams are pending. The state has also decided to increase the number of examination centres from its present 2,500 to 5,500 following an earlier High Court directive. The valuation for the three exams already held will begin on Wednesday, informed the CM.
The SSC examinations began on March 19 and were scheduled to continue till April 6, 2020. However, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the court by M Balakrishna, a freelance journalist.
Balakrishna had observed that no temperature scanning was done at the examination centres on the students and many centres also did not provide hand sanitisers to the students. The petitioner had also pointed out that the exams were being held despite orders to close all educational institutions till March 31.
Speaking to TNM earlier Balakrishna had said, "There are parents and students gathering outside the centres despite prohibitory orders not to do so. There is a high risk of coronavirus spreading even if a single person is infected, which could, in turn, result in a chain reaction."
Hearing the petition on March 20, the High Court had ordered to postpone SSC examinations for class 10 students. The last exam was held on March 21.
In May, the Telangana government announced that students from class 1 to 9 in all schools, including aided and private unaided schools, will be promoted to the higher classes for the academic year 2020-21.