SSC cancelled, students promoted on grades

KCR says delay in holding SSC exam will cause agony to students, parents

Ending the anxiety among students and parents, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday decided to promote all SSC students to the next class without conducting the annual examination. The students would be given grades based on their internal assessment marks. The meeting decided to take a decision on the degree and post-graduate examinations at a later date based on the situation.

In 1969, the 10th class exams were cancelled due to the first Telangana statehood agitation, and all students had been promoted.

After holding a review with senior officers, the Chief Minister felt that it would not be possible to conduct the examinations in the prevailing Covid-19 situation. It was not proper to postpone the examination for the time being, or hold them separately for students staying in the Greater Hyderabad

Municipal Corporation area and those in the rest of the state, as directed by the Telangana High Court last week.

Any further delay in holding the exams will cause severe mental agony to the students and their parents who are in distress since the postponement of the examinations, Mr Rao told the review meeting held at Pragathi Bhavan.

Officials informed the Chief Minister that there were 5,34,903 SSC students in the state. Out of the 11 papers in six subjects, three examinations in two subjects had been conducted in March and the remaining were postponed on the directions of the High Court amid the increase in Covid cases.

After the lockdown was lifted, the government had arranged for more centres, ensured physical distancing in schools and taken anti-Covid measures and submitted the information to the High Court. The court considered the pleas of parents and ordered that SSC exams be held elsewhere in the state from June 8, but be postponed in Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medchal Malkajgiri districts.

To avoid confusion, the Chief Minister had postponed the exams pending a final decision. On Monday, he cancelled them altogether.

Experts recalled that 10th class was introduced in the secondary school education in the 1968-69 academic year. In 1969, the separate Telangana movement was intensified when the 10th class public examinations were on. The students were unable to attend the examinations due to police firing and curfew and the government was forced to cancel the exams and promote the students.

● IN 1969, the 10th class exams were cancelled due to the first Telangana statehood agitation, and all students had been promoted.