Row over Inter exam: AP blinks first?

Willing to take a step back, says Ganta

The Andhra Pradesh Government seems to have succumbed to the pressures of the Telangana Government on the conduct of the Intermediate examinations if the indications of some AP officials are true.

In fact, the AP HRD Minister, Ganta Srinivasa Rao, also indicated the same to mediapersons at the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) office where he was supposed to meet the Telangana Education Minister, G. Jagadish Reddy, as part of the extension of talks between them after the Governor, ESL Narasimhan, directed them to solve the issue amicably. However, the meeting could not take place as Mr. Reddy was busy in the Assembly.

Mr. Rao said that the AP Government was willing take a step back without actually revealing what the step was. “We both Ministers will discuss the issue,” he said.

TS adamant

The Telangana Government has been adamant on the Intermediate exams issue and made its intensions clear to conduct separate exams and even announced a separate schedule. Even during the talks between the Ministers in the presence of the Governor on Wednesday, Mr. Reddy was vocal about having their own exam schedule and that he should be the Chairman of the BIE to oversee the exams in the two States.

Exams may be postponed

If the imbroglio continues Intermediate examinations may get postponed as time is running out fast for putting the process in place. A senior official of the BIE admitted that the Ministers were requested to take a final decision before November 13 if the schedules were to be followed. “Today is 20 and there is no sign of any solution.”

Officials say it takes a minimum of four months to complete the process of setting the papers and printing them, which is highly confidential. Moreover, shortage of staff in the board is likely to further delay the process.

Apart from that valuation is laborious and a time-consuming process involving 40,000 teachers. If the governments don’t react positively even the teachers are likely to take an aggressive path in valuation, officials said and all these are likely to delay the exams and announcement of results.