Class X Board Exams cannot be conducted in yet another big city in India : Hyderabad. The Telangana High court in its verdict this evening directed the state government to postpone the Telangana State Board Class X exams in the Greater Hyderabad limits which means no exams for students in Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Ranga Reddy districts from 8 June. The exams will however, be held in the other districts from Monday with precautions. Over 5 lakh students are enrolled as candidates for these exams.
The court felt that the situation in Hyderabad was not conducive to conduct the exams as it was still a Covid19 hotspot.
Update : Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, subsequent to the verdict, decided to postpone the exams in the entire state, instead of holding exams piecemeal.
Why is this verdict significant from a national perspective? For two reasons.
Hyderabad becomes the second city after Mumbai where in a definitive way, it has been declared that the atmosphere is not conducive to conduct exams. In Mumbai and in other cities of Maharashtra, this has been articulated by the state government while in Hyderabad, it has been said in so many words by the Telangana High court.
Now if parents and petitioners who have been pointing out that it would be risky for students of both CBSE and ICSE boards to take their board exams in July, go to court now, the Telangana High court will have to go by the precedent it has set with its verdict today. Unless the situation improves dramatically by the end of June.
The second big development was regarding the supplementary or compartment exams. Now the CISCE had said those students who are unable to take the exams in July due to being impacted by Covid 19, can take the exam at the time of the conduct of the Compartmental exam.
The same argument was put forth by the Telangana govt and the High court made it clear that those students who write the exam later should not have their mark sheets marked as `supplementary exams pass’ because that carries a stigma academically. Their mark memos should show them as regular students. The government issued a note saying such students will be treated as regular candidates as a special case for this year.
This is another important part of the verdict which will have a bearing on what happens in the case of CBSE and ICSE exam candidates as well.
What will be the impact of the verdict in Telangana?
This delay will put the class 11 or Intermediate First Year academic calendar 2020-21 in jeopardy. This will mean the admission process can hardly take off because they will need to wait for the conduct of the Class X exams for students of Hyderabad district.
The 70000 odd students in Hyderabad will need to spend more time with their books. They can neither get promoted nor can they sit pretty thinking these exams will never take place.
