New Delhi: The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it will be able to conduct Class 12 exams successfully as there are no reliable alternatives to assess the state board students. The state government said it will tentatively hold the Class 12 examination in the last week of July and the time table would be issued shortly.
In its affidavit, filed through standing counsel for the state Mahfooz A Nazki, the state government said that COVID-19 cases are fast declining in the state. It gave figures of COVID cases for June 20 - 5,646, June 21 - 5,541 and June 22 - 4,169 cases and compared them with last month's corresponding dates May 20 - 22,610, May 21 - 20,937 cases and May 22- 19,981 cases.
Experts have been consulted and they are of the view that it will be feasible to hold the examination. The state accordingly shall endeavour to conduct the examination tentatively in the last week of July 2021. The actual time table shall be issued shortly and intimated to the students and parents 15 days in advance, it said.
The practical exams have already been conducted from March 31 to April 24, 2021, it said. The Andhra government said there does not appear to be a reliable alternative to assess Class 12 of the state board Class 10 students are awarded grades instead of marks.
The board does not have any check or visibility on the internal examinations conducted by various schools. Thus, any assessment based on internal examination in the State of Andhra Pradesh may not yield accurate results, the state government said.
The state's affidavit, which will be taken up for hearing before a special bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari on Thursday, said that in the common entrance exam (Engineering, Agriculture and Pharmacy Common Entrance Test), 25 per cent weight is given to the marks obtained in Class 12.
The top court is hearing a plea seeking directions to state governments to
not hold board examinations in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thus, Class 12 results play a crucial role in determining the future of the Students, the Andhra Pradesh government said, adding that in view of the difficulties coupled with the improving COVID situation, the authorities are of the view that it will be in the best interest of Students if examination is conducted . It said a total of 5,19,510 students are scheduled to appear for Class 12 exams and 5,12,959 students are eligible for Class 11 exams.