Suspense over conducting rescheduled SSC exams is likely to end on Saturday with Telangana High Court awaiting government’s response to a proposal if it would consider students who appear for supplementary exams in August/September, instead of now, as regular students.
A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy, hearing a PIL plea on Friday seeking further deferment of SSC exams, instructed the government to express its stand on the matter by Saturday. Observing that “nothing prevents the State from amending the law” on the matter, the bench posted the matter for Saturday for adjudication.
In the backdrop of spurt in coronavirus positive cases for past few days coinciding with the run-up to rescheduled SSC exams, some parents were worried that their wards would be vulnerable to the virus if they write exams now. The likelihood of students contracting the virus when they write the exams inside the centres and while travelling to and fro home cannot be ruled out notwithstanding the government’s assurances of taking all safety precautions.
The PIL petitioner’s lawyer K. Pawan Kumar, presenting arguments, said taking into consideration apprehensions of the parents the government can treat students wishing to appear for SSC supplementary exams (to be held in August or September) as regular students. With COVID-19 rising exponentially, especially in GHMC region of the State capital, students and parents are naturally worried.
In some cases, some students might not be able to appear for the rescheduled exams (to be held from June 8 to July 5) on health grounds or any other compelling reasons. Such students would carry the stigma of being “supplementary” students if they write the supplementary exams in August or September. In the present situation of everyone reeling under COVID-19 pandemic’s effects, that would not be desirable.
“We should be highly flexible at this moment and we have to be fair towards our children during this pandemic,” the bench said. Directing Advocate General B.S. Prasad to secure instructions on the matter, the bench added that “moreover, it is our children and what prevents us from being more flexible”.
