Over 17,000 inter students skip first-year exam in Telangana

While a total of 5,14,184 students registered for the examination, 4,96,899 appeared for second language paper - I in the State

Hyderabad: The first day of the intermediate public examinations on Wednesday saw over 17,000 first-year students skipping the second language paper – I. While a total of 5,14,184 students registered for the examination, 4,96,899 appeared.

Barring two malpractice cases, one each in Hanamkonda and Warangal districts, the examination commenced smoothly in 1,532 centres across the State. Some students in Hyderabad complained about inadequate facilities, including lack of a wall clock in the examination halls.

A parent whose ward appeared for the exam in a private junior college in ECIL lamented that the centre neither arranged a wall clock nor allowed normal watches to be worn by students. However, the Telangana Board of Intermediate Education (TG BIE) officials said a bell was rung every half-hour to inform students about the remaining time during the examination.

While the TG BIE, which is conducting the exams, issued instructions in the hall tickets that the last reporting time at the centre is 8.45 am, this rule was relaxed and students were given five minutes grace time to enter centres. This time, QR code embedded with centre location has been integrated into hall tickets, enabling students to easily navigate to their respective centres.

Meanwhile, post the examination, traffic at several places in the city crawled as the students headed to their respective homes, alongside movement of a large number of vehicles. The traffic particularly from Kukatpally Y-Junction to JNTU-Hyderabad moved bumper to bumper for some time due to heavy rush.