Andhra Pradesh SSC exams cancelled; students promoted, says Education Minister A Suresh

The Andhra Pradesh government on Saturday announced its decision to cancel the AP SSC (Class X) public examinations and promote the students, in the backdrop of mounting number of coronavirus cases and increasing number of (pandemic) containment clusters across the state.

Education Minister A Suresh said the government took the decision to safeguard the students' health in view of the rapid spread of coronavirus in the state.

"We have tried our best to conduct the examinations and started making arrangements. But, ultimately we felt that the arrangements may not be adequate as the pandemic was spreading fast across the state. Parents and teachers unions too felt it was not advisable to conduct the examinations," the Minister told a press conference.

After a review of the situation, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy suggested that the exams be cancelled and all the Class X students promoted, Suresh added. As per the revised schedule, the government sought to conduct the Class X examinations from July 10 to 17 by curtailing the number of papers from 11 to six.

The examinations were originally scheduled to be held in March but were first put off due to the impending elections to local bodies and subsequently due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

The Education Minister said the advanced supplementary and improvement examinations for Intermediate (class XI and XII) students, slated from July 11, were also being cancelled.

All those students, who did not qualify in the Intermediate first and second years, would now stand promoted, he added. Suresh said a decision would be taken soon on the conduct of various common entrance tests for admission into professional courses.

(Photo Credit for representaition: PTI)