In a major decision to assuage the agitated Intermediate students and their parents, Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao has instructed the officers concerned to take up re-verification and re-counting of answer papers and marks of the students who failed in the examinations, free of cost.
However, for those students who passed the examination but preferred re-verification and re-counting, it should be done in accordance with the prevailing norms and regulations. Mr. Rao held a review meeting at Pragathi Bhavan here on Wednesday on the incidents that happened following the declaration of Intermediate results.
He also gave instructions that the process should be expedited and completed at the earliest and should be followed with conducting the advanced supplementary examinations so that the academic year would not be lost. He entrusted the responsibility of conducting the re-verification, re-counting and advanced supplementary examinations to the Education Secretary B.Janardhan Reddy.
In view of the NEET and JEE country-wide entrance tests, the advanced supplementary examinations should be conducted and results declared at the earliest, he said.
The CM asked the officers to examine if the responsibility of conducting examinations could be entrusted to an autonomous body. The best practices elsewhere in the country and abroad should be studied and implemented in the State. He also instructed officers to evolve a strategy for smooth conduct of examinations and evaluation without any problems in future. For this, the process should begin immediately.
Minister of Education G.Jagadish Reddy, Education Secretary B.Janardhan Reddy, Board of Intermediate Education Secretary A.Ashok, Chief Adviser to the government Rajeev Sharma and CMO officers participated in the review meeting.
This year, 9.74 lakh students appeared for the Intermediate examination and of these 3.28 lakh students figured in the failed category. Some students and parents were of the opinion that errors must have crept in while adding the marks, leading to failure of students. Thus, free re-verification and re-counting should be done in the subject in which the student failed to clear their doubts, he said.
Mr.Rao enquired about the identification of outsourcing agencies and their capacity to process the data of Intermediate students as well as declaration of results. The officers said the selection was done based on the tender process and the responsibility was given to the company which quoted the lowest bid. The capacity of the agency was evaluated by technology experts and experienced Board members.
Appeal to students
The Chief Minister said he was extremely saddened and deeply hurt over suicides by some students who failed in the Intermediate examination. “ Intermediate education is not the whole life. Failing in examination does not amount to failing in life as there will be plenty of opportunities to make a mark in one’s life. Students should choose a profession of their liking and stand up in life and be courageous. By committing suicide, you will be leaving behind lot of sorrow to the parents. I appeal to every student not to resort to the extreme step,” he urged.
