Sangareddy Legislator and TPCC working president T. Jayaprakash Reddy has declared that he would sit on a dharna at the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. demanding the government to react to the spate of suicides of Intermediate students after the first-year results were declared.
At a press conference here, he demanded that the Chief Minister, K. Chandrashekhar Rao should immediately intervene in the issue and it was unfortunate that so far he has not even reacted despite protests from the student organisations. “I will sit on a protest in support of the students and the organisations fighting for them,” he said.
He said the government has to be a little sensitive to such issues and even the Education Minister, Sabitha Indra Reddy has not reacted or reviewed the situation emerging out of the suicides and protests. Government should have visualised such a scenario given the COVID-19 situation and also the previous experience of Intermediate students committing suicides due to t the sensitivity attached to the results.
Mr. Reddy said the government should understand how the first-year students were forced to write the exams without attending even a single class. There is nothing wrong with passing all the failed candidates with the minimum 35 marks and later giving them an opportunity for improvement exams if they wish to.
“Adding grace marks existed before also and the government should not shy from adopting the same given the trying circumstances in which students were forced to write,” he said. He also asked the parents and teachers to be considerate and not put additional pressure on the failed students.
