While the Jagan government has been repeatedly defying the Andhra Pradesh High Court verdicts and challenging its directives in the Supreme Court, the Telangana government has honoured the HC verdict on SSC exams.
The KCR government on Saturday decided to put off the SSC examinations in the entire state although the Telangana High Court gave a directive not to hold the exams only in Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Ranga Reddy districts. Consequently, the Telangana government will inform the High Court of its decision to postpone the SSC examinations on Monday. A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting.
On Saturday, ending a month-long suspense over the SSC examinations, the Telangana High Court had directed the KCR government to postpone SSC examinations in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits and Ranga Reddy while allowing the board to conduct the examination in the rest of the state. The court has ordered the Telangana Education Board to take necessary precautions while conducting the examination in the other districts. However, the state government had decided to put off the exams in the entire state as it will be difficult to set different question papers in different districts.
On May 18, the Telangana High Court gave a green signal for the conduct of the SSC examinations in the State from June 8, but suggested that certain measures have to be initiated by the government. However, in view of the alarming rise in corona cases in Telangana, a petition was filed in the High Court with an appeal to direct the State government to emulate the Punjab grading system. The Punjab government had cancelled the class 10 exams and decided that students will be promoted based on their performance in pre-Board exams.
Earlier in the day, the Telangana High Court pulled the KCR government if the lives of the students were more important than conducting SSC examinations.
Hearing a petition on conducting SSC exams, the High Court asked the AG why the Telangana government cannot explore the possibility of emulating the grading system adopted by Punjab. Further, the High Court had asked the Telangana government to conduct SSC examinations in all the districts barring Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy which have reported a surge of Covid-19 cases over the last one month or so.
To this, the AG informed the High Court that it is nearly impossible to hold the examinations at separate dates in different districts. It will be difficult to set the question papers for different districts. Advocate General B S Prasad argued that the state government had initiated all the necessary steps taken to conduct the SSC exams between June 8 and July 5. The government had procured thermal screening kits, masks and gloves and more than 4,000 medical staff were appointed. To this the High Court had asked the AG if the lives of the students are more important than the technical problems that the government is likely to face in conducting the SSC exams at different dates in different districts.
