Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has given the nod to hold improvement exams for plus one-courses for both higher secondary and vocational higher secondary students. The General Education Department has issued an order in this regard.
The improvement exam is likely to be held in January.
The plus-one results were published on November 27 after the examinations had been postponed several times following a lengthy legal tussle that even reached the Supreme Court.
Earlier, Education Minister V Sivankutty stated in a social media post that due to the COVID-19 pandemic proper studies were hampered.
"In the short time, they could not prepare well for the examinations. Considering this the state has decided to conduct improvement examinations," the minister reasoned.
Sivankutty said that the Kerala School Teachers Association and Students' Federation of India had requested him to conduct the exams.
"Several students also raised the matter in person and over the phone as well. The matter was also debated at the ministerial level. The decision was taken after considering the public demand," he added.
Even though the initial exam notification had said that there wouldn’t be an improvement opportunity for the students, many student organisations had requested the government to conduct exams as classes weren’t held properly due to the pandemic and many students couldn’t prepare well.
The Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights too had ordered the government to allow improvement opportunities for higher secondary students.