Around 18,000 skip Inter exams on Day-1

Amaravati: More than 18, 000 students were absent for the first day exam of Junior Intermediate on Wednesday, out of the total expected students of 5,09,890 in the state.

The officials identified that insufficient attendance in colleges during their course was the main reason behind the lack of hundred per cent attendance in the examinations. The students must have 80 per cent attendance for getting eligibility to attend the final exams, informed the officials.

The total strength of first year students in all groups, including science and arts, is 5,25,985, said B Udayalakshmi, Secretary, Board of Intermediate Education.

Two malpractice cases were detected in the Junior Intermediate exams. They include one at Bapatla and another at Bandar (Machilipatnam) in Guntur and Krishna respectively. She explained that they had arranged CCTV surveillance at all the 1,443 examination centres across the state.

A total of 10,26,891 students will attend both the exams, including first and second years of Intermediate exams. Of them, 9,63,472 students are attending in general category while 63,418 candidates are attending in vocational courses.

In the general category, 4,87,432 boys and 4,76,040 girls and in the vocation category, 32,726 boys and 30,693 girls are attending the exams, Udaya Lakshmi explained in a release. She suggested that students utilise a dedicated call centre at 0866–2974130, which would be available 24 hours for any queries related to the ongoing Intermediate exams.

Udaya Lakshmi explained that they identified malpractice in exams by a student at Pavitra Junior College in Machilipatnam and another student at Social Welfare College at Bapatla. She informed that they would take appropriate action after completing the due procedure by the Malpractice Committee.

She warned that the government will not tolerate any malpractice in the exams and action will be serious on students’ life. Cautioning students, Udaya Lakshmi said that the students must reach the exam centre before 9 am and none will be allowed later. She further suggested that students attend the exam centre before 8.30 am to avoid disturbance.

The exams would continue till March 19. She informed that they had requested the APSRTC to reschedule their bus routes to facilitate easy reach of the examination centres by the students.