The Telangana High Court has refused to interfere with the intermediate first-year examinations that are scheduled to begin from October 25.
A petition was filled by a parents' association which requested the court to order the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) to cancel the examinations but the court refused and, in turn, pulled up the petitioner for filing a petition like this at the last moment.
The main argument presented by the government's counsel was that already, for these students, there were no Class X exams owing to the pandemic and if the exams are cancelled again citing the same reason, there will be no evaluation method for them and thus, their future will have to suffer, stated a report in The Times of India.
Indeed, TSBIE had promoted all intermediate first-year students because of COVID-19. And, on September 24, it was decided that intermediate first-year exams will have to be conducted for the students who are now in intermediate second year in October itself, though the exams are usually held in the months of February-March.
The move was opposed by several parents' associations and students alike who pointed out various reasons such as how intermediate second-year students cannot prepare for first-year exams while they are trying to cover their second-year syllabus while also preparing for competitive exams as well.
Even private college managements joined in saying that the government needs to address their long-pending demands on an urgent basis first. In fact, the Telangana Private Junior Colleges Managements' Association (TPJMA) went on to state that the officials weren't even ready to discuss their problems, the major of which is pending scholarship amounts. For the last couple of years, the government owes them Rs 315 crore towards scholarships. TSBIE Secretary Omer Jaleel had mentioned that action will be initiated against any college that boycotts these examinations.
