A day after they submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court that they wanted to conduct SSC and Intermediate Exams, Andhra Pradesh has recanted and cancelled their exams — a move that has brought jubilation among students.
Announcing the move, AP's Education Minister Adimulapu Suresh said that they were still "keen" on conducting the exams, but were forced to cancel it as they would be unable to finish the exams and publish the results by the July 31 deadline. "The whole process will take about 45 days," he informed.
The Supreme Court had rapped them earlier in the day and asked why they were adamant on conducting the exams when almost every state in India had followed the CBSE's suit and cancelled exams.
This is particularly pertinent because of the current fear over the spread of the Delta Plus variant of the COVID-19 virus that has been detected in states across India, Tamil Nadu included, raising fears of a third wave that could be deadlier for children than previous waves.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court had directed the state to submit file recordings that can help establish how the decision to hold board exams had been taken and whether all prevailing pandemic conditions were examined. It was hearing a petition that sought the postponement of all state board examinations, filed by a Mumbai based lawyer Anubha Shrivastava Sahai. "Even one fatality, we may order compensation amounting to one crore,'' the SC warned and asked, "The other boards have cancelled it. There is no reason why this board can't follow it just because it wants to show it is different."
