Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to postpone the SSC examinations, scheduled from March 31, for two weeks.
Education minister A Suresh announced that a fresh schedule would be announced on March 31, depending on the situation then.
The announcement came as major relief to lakhs of students and their parents against the backdrop of the Covid 19 pandemic.
Just on Sunday, when chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy announced a statewide lockdown, he had asserted that the exams would be held as per schedule because a delay would affect the careers of students.
When it was it was brought to his notice that the High Court had ordered postponement of SSC exams in Telangana, the chief minister avoided a reply. He reportedly adopted a wait-and-watch mode on Monday too when the issue came up for discussion again.
With the Supreme Court allowing advocates to file petitions online and file cases through letter petitions, some parents and organisations moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking a postponement.
A High Court advocate, Tandava Rajesh, who filed that petition said, “More than six lakh students below 15 years of age sit for the examinations at 3000 centres and some 40,000 government staff are directly involved in conducting them. Plus, a minimum of six lakh parents or an even higher number would be escorting their children to the examination centres. Going ahead with the exams in the face of a lockdown and a coronavirus threat would have been untenable.”
Sources said the chief minister was briefed about the cases being filed in the High Court and the possibility of judicial intervention.
“The government itself declared a lockdown and warned people against coming out of their houses. It would have been difficult for us to defend the decision in case the High court had intervened,” a senior official in the Education Department said.
