Intermediate exams for class 12 students in Telangana have been cancelled and all students have been promoted. The Telangana State Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy made the announcement on June 9, providing relief to lakhs of students. The second-year Intermediate exams were scheduled to take place from May 1 to May 19 but were later postponed owing to rising COVID-19 cases. This exam has now been cancelled.
Speaking to the media, Sabitha Indra Reddy said the decision to cancel the exams was taken by the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, to avoid endangering students, “Considering the current pandemic situation, to avoid endangering students’ health, Chief Minister KCR has decided to cancel intermediate second-year exams too, keeping parents’ and students’ fears into consideration,” said the minister.
The minister informed that discussions are ongoing among the authorities with Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) to come up with a grading system for the students, “We will soon formulate a grading system and announce the results. If any students wish to write the exam, once the situation is better, a decision on that will be taken then. A committee has been formed to decide on the grading system, and they will soon submit their report,” she added. The Higher Education Department has already promoted all first-year Intermediate students without exams.
Students from Telangana had been calling for the cancellation of the Intermediate exams, citing immense pressure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A petition was even started online, by an individual named Koumudi Balla raising concerns about many intermediate colleges not completing their syllabus. His petition read, “Due to the pandemic, schools and colleges were shut across the state forcing students to attend classes online. While many students struggled to make arrangements to attend the classes, most educational institutions run by the government- due to lack of resources required for online classes failed to conduct the classes,” the petitioner added, “As a result, most colleges failed even to finish 50% of the entire syllabus meant for the academic year of 2020-2021. It is unfair to expect students to attend the exams without proper knowledge of what they will be facing.”
Earlier in June, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had cancelled class 12 exams owing to the pandemic.