Date: 06-07-2021

To,
Shri Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy garu,
Hon’ble Chief Minister
Government of Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati.

SUB: Request state government to take a considered decision on upcoming semester exams

Sir,

As you are well aware, the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is on the downswing in the state and across India. I
appreciate your decision to cancel exams for school students, heeding public demand and political mobilization. Positivity
rates have fallen steadily, and people are left to rebuild their lives in the wake of trauma and financial suffering. It is important for
the government and society to now work together in ensuring that a third wave is kept at bay. It is in this context that I urge you
to address the issue of conducting offline semester exams for students in the coming weeks and months. Several universities
and colleges have released exam calendars, placing the students in acute distress and uncertainty.

AP has more than 3500 institutions of higher education, including 53 universities and thousands of colleges and stand-
alone institutions, catering to more than 17 lakh students in regular and distance-learning modes. The average positivity rate
of AP has been brought below 5% in June, through canceling school exams and covid-appropriate behavior by the people
ensured. Should we risk these hard-fought gains by having exams for lakhs of college-going students? This would be a fraught
exercise that spans the entire state. While the state could ensure Covid protocols for these exams, even a few dozen instances
of oversight could prove deadly for the students, teachers and elders, precipitating a potential third wave.

While everyone realizes the importance of the semester or year-end exams in higher education, we must explore ways
of assessment that avoid mass gatherings in closed spaces. Exams for most students in pre-final years were cancelled last
year in AP and other states. This was a brave decision, in keeping with Union government guidelines and the opinions of our
college authorities. Most of our students have not been vaccinated yet; the risk of third wave infecting the younger population
through the more deadly Delta variants is also quite high. Students have already begun protesting in Kerala, Karnataka and
Telangana regarding the conduct of exams, where their safety is not guaranteed. Let us act before our students are forced to
take the protest route themselves. Their grievances must be resolved quickly.

There have been numerous instances of dozens of students in hostels and colleges testing Covid-positive in the recent
past in AP. We must consolidate our pandemic preparedness in the coming weeks, ensuring universal vaccination as the
first priority. As I have repeated often, the lives of our future generation are of utmost importance when considering holding
exams. What our state simply cannot afford is another Covid wave of deaths and disastrous suffering. I urge you to assess
the ground situation, take students and college authorities into confidence, and work towards optimal conditions needed to
conduct exams.