Tension prevailed at the Telangana Board of Intermediate Education (TBIE) here for a second consecutive day on Tuesday as students continued their protest over the goof-ups in intermediate examination results.
Dozens of students belonging to various groups were arrested as they tried to stage sit-in in front of TBIE office in Nampally in the heart of the city, demanding justice to students who appeared in 11th and 12th standard examinations.
Professor K. Nageshwar Rao, a former legislator who reached the TBIE office to express solidarity with the protesting students, was also arrested. He demanded immediate action against those responsible for lapses in the results.
Large number of policemen were deployed at the office, which remained out of bounds for students seeking redressal of their grievances. They remained clueless on applying for re-valuation of the answer sheets as they were not allowed to enter the board office. Students complained that they could not even apply online as the board’s website was not functioning.
Opposition parties and student groups have alleged that the bungling by the board led to suicide of 16 students.
Balala Hakkula Sangham, a NGO working for children’s rights, approached Telangana High Court on Tuesday, seeking direction to the government to order re-valuation of all answer sheets. It also sought a thorough probe into the lapses and compensation to the families of the students who ended their lives.
A total of 9 lakh students had appeared in the intermediate exams held in February-March. The results, announced last Thursday, led to utter chaos. Many bright students who did well in the first year failed in the second year. Most of them were shocked as they were awarded zero, one or two marks.
TBIE Secretary A. Ashok on Monday admitted that there were some lapses in declaring the results. He, however, assured students that the discrepancies would be rectified.
The state government on Monday ordered an inquiry into the alleged lapses in the system deployed by Globarena Technologies, whose services were hired by TBIE to conduct the exams.
A three-member committee, headed by G. T. Venkateswar Rao, Managing Director, Telangana State Technological Service, will find out whether there were any errors in publication of results on account of any systemic errors of the agency. The committee, which also has Professor A. Vassan of BITS Hyderabad and Professor Nishanth Dongari of IIT Hyderabad as its members, has been asked to submit report in three days.
