The final-year examinations for a number of degree and postgraduate courses are due to begin on Wednesday in the state of Telangana.

The State Collegiate Education Commissioner informed the High Court that for 90 percent of the students, the examination will be held offline. In other words, 240,000 students who are pursuing BA, B.Com, B.Sc or B.Tech degrees will have to go to examination centres to take paper-based tests.

This includes students studying in colleges affiliated with universities such as Osmania University, Kakatiya University, Mahatma Gandhi University, Telangana University, JNTU Hyderabad, and so on. It also includes students from 11 autonomous colleges- three degree colleges and eight engineering colleges. The autonomous colleges were allowed to decide to hold examinations either online or offline.

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Advocate General BS Prasad said this in a court presided by a bench consisting of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy. The bench was hearing a PIL filed by NSUI leader NV Narsing Rao. Rao had originally moved for the cancellation of examinations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he later changed his stance and demanded that the examinations be held online for everyone.

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However, the state of Telangana said that all affiliated colleges should hold examinations offline. As this was a policy decision, the court did not wish to interfere. The state assured the bench that those who do not take the examination now can take supplementary examinations later. These students will be treated at par with students who take regular examinations.

The petitioner urged the bench to ensure that the supplementary examinations are held soon so that students do not lose one academic year. However, the bench said that is a decision to be made by the concerned authorities after reassessing the pandemic. The bench asked the authorities to take measures against the spread of the virus while holding examinations.