COVID-19: Andhra Pradesh govt postpones Intermediate exams amid surge in cases

In a key development, the Andhra Pradesh government on Sunday decided to postpone the intermediate examinations was to take place from May 5. Confirming the news, the State Education Minister Adimulapu Suresh said in an official statement that the decision to postpone the intermediary exams from May 5 was taken after the High Court asked them to reconsider the decision to conduct the exam in view of the COVID-19 surge.

Pointing out that in the wake of the pandemic, the Central government has put in place all measures, like curfew, but has not released any uniform policy for the exams of classes 10,11, and 12. "Some states have already conducted the exams, some have been conducting and some have cancelled them, issuing pass certificates." He further added, "In the states where exams are not cancelled, those students who studied well will get the certificates with good marks and grades, and such students will get seats in good colleges."

Having said that, he pointed out that this was the reason why he was keen on conducting exams. Elaborating on the same, he pointed out, "Practical exams for Intermediate are already complete and only theory exams are pending, which can be completed in six days each and each exam is of three hours." He added that that the government is making arrangements for conducting the exams in a safer environment. 

Calling his government a people-friendly government, he justified the postponement of exams. "we have taken into consideration the concerns of children and their parents in the wake of increasing COVID cases in the State as well as the Country." 

COVID-tally in Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh is seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases. On Sunday, the State conducted 1,14,299 tests, of which 23,920 reported positive. Chittoor district reported the highest number, with 2,945 fresh cases, followed by East Godavari that reported 2,831 fresh cases. With this, the total number of positive cases in the State shot to 11,45,022, of which 1,43,178 are still active, 9,93,708 have recovered and 8,136 have passed away. 

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