The Telangana government on Monday issued the order constituting its own Board of Intermediate Education with retrospective effect from the date of formation of the new State on June 2.
The government adapted the Andhra Pradesh Board of Intermediate Education Act, 1971, for the purpose of constituting the new board.
It will have a chairman, ten ex-officio members comprising commissioners of various departments of education and members nominated by government. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had signed the file relating to the board on Saturday but the order was issued by the Higher Education Department only on Monday.
The board was constituted at a time when the Andhra Pradesh government pitched for combined Intermediate examination at the end of this academic year. But, the Telangana government was firm on having its own exam for Inter students.
The AP government wanted a combined examination because admissions to higher education either through EAMCET or joint entrance exams carried weightage of Inter marks and would give scope for complaints that the Inter exams were tough or simpler in one or the other State if the students got uneven marks.
The Telangana Education Minister G. Jagadish Reddy has already asked Telangana officials to go ahead with preparation of question papers for the exams. He argued that setting separate question papers was natural because Telangana government had already started valuing answer scripts of supplementary exams conducted in the separate State.
Though the Telangana board came into existence only on Monday, work in the erstwhile setup was already divided informally between the two States. Only the formal bifurcation by dividing the assets and employees has remained.
