SSC exams from Monday put off in Telangana

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Friday ordered the State government to postpone the ongoing SSC exams that began on Thursday (March 19, 2020).

The SSC exams scheduled between March 23 (Monday) and March 30 will be deferred. However, the exam which is scheduled for Saturday (March 21) will be held as per the schedule.

A PIL was filed by M Balakrishna, a resident of East Marredpally, Secunderabad, to postpone the ongoing SSC exams across the state to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection.

Continuing the examinations will be a risk for the students since Covid-19 is showing its impact on the state with increasing number of positive cases.

Telangana High Court Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan, hearing the PIL, directed the government to postpone the SSC exams till further orders.

As the SSC exams commenced on March 19, 2020, and were planned to conduct till April 6, the state government will assess the situation and accordingly renotify the examination schedule.

The matter was posted for hearing further on March 30, 2020 to review the situation in view of the spreading of the virus and possibilities to hold the SSC exams from March 31, 2020.

While hearing the PIL, the CJ Bench asked Advocate General BS Prasad to get back to the court with the instructions from the state government with regard to the postponement of the ongoing exams in view of the safeguarding of the students due to virus.

In the afternoon session, the AG replied to the Bench that the state is well prepared, taking all necessary steps at the examination centres.

"You may be well prepared. But can't prevent it 100%. Central government requested all the states to postpone the exams, why do the state jeopardize (putting risk) the students," the Bench questioned. "I will give orders directing the state to postpone the exams," the CJ said.

The Advocate General sought time to get instructions.

The CJ has come down heavily on the government asking the Advocate General as to why it has decided to continue the exams when CBSC, ICSC, etc, have postponed the exams due to corona, 144 section has been imposed in Karimnagar and the Central government is imposing Janata Curfew across the country.

When the AG submitted to the court that the state is thinking about the career of the students and there will be an adverse psychological impact on the students, the CJ said, "Life of our children is important.

Where will be the question of career when their life is in risk? If one student among 30 students in the room has virus, all other students will get infected," he said.