Coronavirus outbreak: SSC, HSC results unlikely to be out before July

Students who appeared for the SSC board exams this year did not have any internal marking system. Representation pic

Lakhs of SSC students who were anxiously waiting for a decision about their remaining paper can heave a sigh a relief as there won't be test for that subject. However, they along with the HSC students are likely to face a delay in admission process to their respective fields.

With everything shut owing to the lockdown, teachers have not been able to evaluate the answer sheets because a decision allowing them to take the papers home came too late, said a teachers' association.

Results of both the Secondary School Certificate and Higher Secondary Certificate exams are usually declared in June, but this year the scores might not be ready to be released even by July, said experts.

The state government issued a circular on April 13 stating that a decision on evaluation of the board examination papers will be taken once the lockdown was over. "Due to the lockdown, it is not possible to make answer sheets of SSC and HSC available to teachers for evaluation at home. Hence, an appropriate decision will be taken in this regard after the lockdown ends," the circular stated.

Before the result is declared, the papers are first evaluated by teachers, who then pass them on to the moderators. Lastly, the chief moderators re-verify the papers with lowest and highest marks. If the lockdown ends on May 3, this entire process will delay the result declaration by a month.

Rajesh Pandya from Teachers Democratic Front (TDF) said, "According to a court order, board exam results should be out by June 4 so that admissions process for new academic year can continue on time. But it looks impossible this year. The process once started will take two months and results shall be out only by July, that is if the lockdown ends on May 3."

Jalinder Sarode, general secretary of Shikshak Bharati, said, "Answer sheets are in schools and teachers cannot collect them as there is no travel facility. Once the lockdown ends, the government will have to ensure that evaluation is done on war-footing so that the next academic year does not suffer much."

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