Kerala Government Tells SC That Plus One Exams Can't Be Held Online

Key takeaways

• The affidavit is filed by the APM Muhammed Hanish, principal secretary to the general education department.
• This affidavit is filed for the students of lower class who are facing issues with availability of electronic gadgets and internet connects.
• This affidavit was first filed in Kerala High Court, but the court denied to interfere in the decision of state government.

Assurance given by the state

• The affidavit was filed by the APM Muhammed Hanish, Principal Secretary to the General Education Department stating that online exam for plus one will cause lot of problems to the students who do not have laptops, desktops or even mobile phones.
• The affidavit also stated that the students from lower class attend lectures through phones and tabs and in some area, there is a lot of issue for internet so online exams shall cause injustice to such students.
• If offline exams are conducted then the issue of students of not having electronic gadgets or proper internet connections shall be resolved and there shall be fair and transparent exam conducted thus eliminating chances of complaints.
• This affidavit is filed in response to a petition filed by Rasoolshan A challenging the state decision to hold physical exam for plus one.
• The state government has mentioned in this affidavit that the plus one marks are added in the plus two marks to determine the eligibility of the students for higher studies so it shall be preferable to take the exam in the physical form in one stroke and avoid the leakage of the questions.
• The state assured the supreme court that exam will be held in physical form while all the necessary precautions shall be taken. They also mentioned that class 12th entrance exam was held successfully in April-June with lakhs of students attending in physical form.
• The state also assured the supreme court about the students who are COVID positive and who are showing the symptoms of COVID for them separate arrangements shall be made.
• The state mentioned that the exams shall be conducted before the third wave hits the nation as warning has been issued by the National Institute of Disaster Management.
• Also, they mentioned that those students who failed in previous plus two exam need to pass plus one and plus two both the exams in which they have failed so if they do not go as per the planned schedule then their chances of getting admission for higher courses shall be at risk.

The supreme court will consider the matter later. The petitioner first approached the Kerala High Court who denied to interfere in the matter of the state government.

HOPE YOU FIND THE SNIPPET INFORMATIVE.

Questions:

1. In this situation is it safe to gather lakhs of students at one place?
2. Is conducting offline exams worth the risk?