The Telangana government Friday decided to give passing marks to all the students who failed in the first year Intermediate exams as a one-time exemption citing the pandemic conditions. Telangana Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy said that the 2,35,230 students who failed to clear the exams would be given grace marks and will be considered passed to second year. “This is the last time that students will be given passing marks en masse. We will conduct exams seriously henceforth so that the future of students is not spoiled. For students who want to appear for competitive exams or go for higher education, passing the board exams is important. The Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) conducted the exams in the sincere belief that it would help the students as they had not appeared for any exams in the last two years due to Covid-19 restrictions. After the results, however, we have been criticised mercilessly which is not fair. There was no problem with our online classes and digital teaching. Despite the challenging circumstances, 49 per cent students passed which says a lot,’’ Reddy said. The state government had promoted first year Intermediate students to second year this April without holding exams due to the pandemic. However, the TSBIE decided to hold the exams for first year which were held from October 25 to November 3. However, only 49 per cent students passed in the results declared last week. A total of 4,59,242 students appeared for the exam – 4,09,911 in the general stream and 49,331 in vocational. While 1,99,786 students passed in the general stream, 24,226 vocational students passed. After the results were announced, there were protests by students and parents, complaining that online classes weren't enough to prepare for the exams.
