HYDERABAD: More than 23,000 students were absent for the first year Intermediate public examinations on Monday, the highest number of absentees marked this year.
As many as 4,64,685 first year Intermediate students registered for English Paper – I exam on Monday, of which, 23,311 students were marked absent.
Cases of malpractices have been reported in Nizamabad district, where a case was also registered against a first-year student on Monday. The absentee percentage recorded on Friday among first year students and Saturday among second year students was 4.7 per cent, which rose to 5 per cent among first year students on Monday.
When questioned about the number of students marked absent for being late, the officials replied that they did not have any official data recorded. The Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education launched a toll-free number and also numbers of a few psychologists for students to approach them in case of exam related stress and anxiety. But, a few students have, however, mistaken these helpline numbers and are asking important questions to psychologists.
Dr Rajini Tenali Bhushan, a psychologist said, “Students think that the helpline numbers shared are directly related to the board and are asking important questions about the exam. They are also asking us to appeal to the board to correct the answer scripts in a lenient manner.” She added that students were ready to accept challenges and were worried about the results as they could not focus because of online and offline classes.
“The students are asking us how to calculate the marks and percentage based on the answers they have written. They have agreed that they could not give their 100 per cent and are doing last-minute preparation,” she added.
The students are under pressure from their peers, parents and teachers and also reportedly getting panic attacks. “This was because they are systematically writing board exams after a long time and the pressure on second-year students is more as these exams could well decide their future,” added another psychologist, Dr Anita Are.
A few other psychologists also received calls from students who appealed to write online exams as they are suffering from high fever and cold and cough.
However, the students are told that no online exams would be conducted and they can wait for the supplementary exams if they are not in a condition to write the offline exam.
