The Andhra Pradesh government has warned students of Class 11 and Class 12 against writing slogans, supporting or opposing Telangana state, in answer sheets.
Board of Intermediate Education warned that students writing slogans like “Jai Telangana” and “Samaikhya Andhra” or united Andhra would be treated as the ones who committed malpractices during examination and will fail.
The warning came ahead of the annual intermediate examinations beginning Wednesday across the state.
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Students in Telangana are in the forefront of the movement for statehood to the region while their counterparts in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions are opposing bifurcation.
The protests in Telangana have already affected exam schedules in Osmania University and other varsities in the region in last couple of months.
Board of Intermediate Education Secretary Balaramaiah told reporters that over 1.8 million students would be appearing for the exams at 2,331 exam centres.
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The statehood row is also having its impact on valuation process of the answer sheets.
Student groups supported by political parties in Telangana have been demanding that the answer sheets of Telangana students be evaluated by lecturers belonging to the same region.
A delegation of main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislators of Telangana also raised this demand during their meeting with Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, who promised to sort out the issue after discussions.
Intermediate board secretary, however, clarified that evaluators would have no idea of the identity of students while evaluating their answer sheets.