JAC pressures to postpone Inter exams

The Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) has put pressure on the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) to postpone the Intermediate public exams scheduled to begin from March 3. It will lay siege of the Board on January 25 demanding postponement by two weeks. The JAC is planning to give a call to boycott the exams in T-region if the Board refuses to heed to their demand. Earlier, the Telangana Junior Colleges Managements Association, AP Junior Lecturers Association and the ABVP had also demanded the postponement. The JAC convenor, Prof. M. Kodandaram, along with leaders of various political parties, met the BIE secretary, Mr G. Balaramaiah, on Thursday and demanded postponement of exams keeping in view the interests of Telangana students.

Mr Balaramaiah, however, made it clear that the decision to postpone the exams was not under the purview of the Board and only the state government can take such a decision. He told the JAC that he will refer the issue to the government.
The Board has already spent Rs 1 crore on pre-examination works such as bar-coding the answer scripts and packaging of over 1.5 crore OMR answer sheets and question papers. “If we postpone the exams, we have to take up the work again. It is not possible to alter the schedule at this advanced stage,” said Mr Balaramaiah.
Prof. Kodandaram in reaction said, “how can the Board stick to the original schedule when the government itself declared holidays for two weeks owing to the T-issue. It will have an adverse impact on Telangana students as they lost a month in December,” he said. Furthermore, Prof. Kodandaram said that the students appearing for Eamcet will also be affected as there is a 25 per cent weightage for Inter marks.