The State government’s decision to hold exams for students of Class X and Intermediate, at a time when the second wave of COVID-19 is spreading rapidly, will put close to 50 lakh people at risk, representatives of political parties and teachers’ associations said.
The Telugu Desam Party’s Vizianagaram Parliamentary wing president Kimidi Nagarjuna feared that Andhra Pradesh would soon report the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country if the examinations are allowed to be held without properly assessing the ground-level situation first.
“Hospitals are already unable to take on any new patients as the health infrastructure is saturated. Many COVID-19 victims are dying on the roads due to non-availability of oxygen and ambulances. In this grim scenario, the government is inviting more trouble with its adamant attitude over conducting exams,” he said.
BJP Etcherla in-charge Nadukuditi Eswara Rao urged the government to concentrate on speeding up the vaccination process instead of focusing on conducting exams. “The second wave is spreading to every nook and corner of the State after the elections to the municipalities, ZPTCs and MPTCs. Now, every house will have at least one COVID-19 patient if the exams will be held,” he said.
Lok Satta Party State executive president Bhisetti Babji urged the government to hold an all-party meeting to discuss the COVID-19 situation and examination process.
Andhra Pradesh Teachers’ Federation State president K. Bhanumurthy said that postponing the examination was the best way forward in the current scenario. “The teachers have to go to police stations to collect the question papers. The coding process ill be taken up after the examination. Close movement of teachers in exam halls cannot be avoided in spite of precautions. APTF has already explained its stand to the government,” said Mr. Bhanumurthy.
All India Federation of Educational Association’s council member Sannasetty Rajasekhar said that many States had already postponed exams to safeguard students’ lives apart from preventing a further spread of the infection. “Many teachers have lost their lives to COVID-19. The government should not put teachers at further risk. Postponing of the exams by two months would be the right thing to do,” he said.
