Coronavirus: Madras HC directs board to start HSC exam ’30 minutes’ later

Coronavirus: The students who appeared for their last HSC paper on Tuesday, March 24, had their examination from 10:30 am. Representational image/ file

Coronavirus: As lockdown was imposed in districts in Tamil Nadu over coronavirus pandemic, the Madras High Court (HC) has directed the school education department to start the HSC class 12, 11 board exams ‘half an hour’ later from the scheduled 10 am. The students who appeared for their last HSC paper on Tuesday, March 24, had their examination from 10:30 am, 30 minutes later from scheduled 10 am. The students who will appear for their last class 11 paper on March 26 have to follow the same schedule, as per the order of Madras HC.

Due to shutdown, if students face any difficulty in reaching the exam centres, they should intimate it to the centre head, and the authorities should arrange transport facilities for the students, the bench of justice M M Sundresh and Krishnan Ramaswamy said.

The HC order came on a PIL moved by advocate G Rajesh to take all safety measures at the examination centres providing masks and hand sanitisers.

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Meanwhile, the SSC class 10 examinations were postponed in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry till April 15, 2020. The dates of the revised examinations will be issued later.

States, including the central boards have rescheduled their class 10 and 12 examinations. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) have also postponed the class 10, 12 board examination and evaluation process till March 31. The National Testing Agency has also put on hold the JEE Main that was scheduled to begin from April 5.