VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday cancelled the Class 12th state board examinations following the Supreme Court’s tough questions over holding them during the Covid pandemic.

State education minister Adimulapu Suresh said the decision to cancel the SSC and intermediate examinations was taken after the orders given by the Supreme court.
The apex court issued orders to complete the entire process of examinations including declaration of results by 31 July 2021.
The authorities from the Board Of Intermediate Education AP (BIEAP) explained to the government that they cannot conduct the examinations in the stipulated time frame suggested by the Supreme Court.
Congratulations!You have successfully cast your voteLogin to view resultThe Supreme Court on Thursday told Andhra Pradesh it is not convinced of the precautionary measures suggested by the state for holding Class 12 board exams and said it won’t allow them unless it is satisfied that there will be no fatality due to Covid.
“We are not satisfied with the precautionary measures you will be taking for holding the exams.
We are not convinced with the mechanism you have devised.
Unless we are satisfied that you are able to conduct the examination without any fatality, we will not allow you to hold the examination,” the bench said.
Suresh said that the state is not in a position to conduct the examinations within the time period stipulated by the top court.
“We are keen on conducting exams as second-year Intermediate marks play a key role in the future of students.
We have submitted an affidavit to the center explaining the safety measures taken while conducting the examinations.
But the Supreme Court gave orders to complete the entire process of examinations and declare results by July 31, 2021.
We are not in a position to conduct exams in the shortest possible time,” education minister Audimulapu Suresh said.
We have decided to cancel the intermediate second-year exams.
At the same time an expert panel will be constituted to decide on awarding marks to the students, he added.
Similarly, we have also decided to cancel the SSC examinations and promote the students as per their performance from Class 7 to Class 9.
Students, parents, teachers associations, and student unions welcomed the decision of the state government.
“We have been requesting the government to cancel the examination since April.
But it was keen on conducting examinations and increasing stress on students.
Finally, it has been decided as per the orders of the Supreme court.
We welcome it,” said A Ravichandra, President of Progressive Democratic Student Union (PDSU).
Telugu Desam and Janasena which are demanding cancellation of exams from May month had welcomed the decision.
TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh said that they finally succeeded in saving the lives of children by cancelling exams.
He asked the government to care for their lives rather than going for false prestige.