Telangana: SSC exams to revert to pre-Covid pattern

With the pandemic throwing everything off track, the last two academic years saw the department slashing the number of papers from 11 to 6 with each subject having only one paper.

Hyderabad: Class X students in the State have a tough task at hand this year, as they will have to cover the entire syllabus besides appearing for all papers in the SSC Public Examinations slated to be held in March 2023. This is because the School Education department is reverting to the question paper pattern to pre-Covid-19 times, which means students will have 11 papers instead of six as was the norm in the last two academic years.

With the pandemic throwing everything off track, the last two academic years saw the department slashing the number of papers from 11 to 6 with each subject having only one paper. The examination duration too was increased to 3 hours 15 minutes from 2 hours 45 minutes. This apart, the syllabus was reduced by 30 per cent. These changes were necessitated because of the limitations imposed by the pandemic, including closure of educational institutions and online/digital classes becoming the practice.

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Now, in the wake of Covid-19 cases subsiding in the State and schools commencing the academic year 2022-23 on time, the SSC Public Examinations for the next year pattern has been reverted to its original format.

“For the academic year 2022-23, all schools have commenced on time. So far, there is no intention to reduce the number of papers and syllabus for the SSC Public Examinations. As we go ahead, we will take a call on it,” Director of School Education A Sridevasena said on Friday.

For the SSC Public Examinations 2022, a total of 5,03,579 students had appeared, out of whom 90 per cent passed. These exams had six papers instead of 11 as per original pattern and the same pattern was followed for the supplementary examinations.

During the academic year 2020-21 too, the Class X exam papers were reduced to six. However, the exams could not be held due to the pandemic. All students who registered for the exams were declared passed and were allotted grades considering their internal assessment marks.