Inter board may revise examination schedule

Hyderabad, Dec. 19: The Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) officials, who were initially against postponing the Inter exams on the ground that it will impact the schedule for Eamcet, are currently in the process of drafting revised schedules.

Though officials refused to confirm the postponement of exams, the comments made by the minister for secondary education, Mr D. Manikya Vara Prasada Rao, on Saturday fuelled speculations over the issue.

“We will take a final decision in a couple of days. Though we are not in favour of postponing the exams, we have to take into account the present circumstances. There’s no doubt that studies have been affected due to closure of colleges and students cannot be blamed for this. We should ensure that Inter students are not affected due to agitations in universities,” Mr Rao said.

Sources in BIE said the officials have drafted two revised schedules and sought approval from the government.

According to them, as per the first revised schedule, the exams will be postponed by two weeks and would begin from March 17. According to another schedule, the exams will start from March 24.

In any case, both the revised schedules will impact the SSC public exams, which were scheduled from March 22.

While 16 lakh students will appear for Inter exams, 13 lakh students will take the SSC exams. Normally, SSC exams begin after the Inter exams. The postponement of Inter exams mean automatic postponement of SSC exams.

However, officials of the higher education department are also equally concerned as it will have an impact on the Eamcet. With 25 per cent weightage given for Inter marks in Eamcet, any delay in Inter will delay the announcement of Eamcet results and admissions.