With the Union government extending the lockdown till May 31, the Kerala government on Monday decided to postpone the SSLC, higher secondary and vocational higher secondary examinations to June.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The SSLC and higher secondary examinations were scheduled to be held from May 26 to 30. The State government had a few days ago issued the notification for the examinations.

Schools and colleges will not open during the fourth phase of the lockdown. Concerns were raised earlier about conducting the examinations from May 26 if the lockdown were to be extended. The move was deemed to be hasty in the wake of the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in recent days. The MHRD’s decision to conduct the remaining Central Board of Secondary Education examinations in July was also pointed out.

Nearly 13 lakh students were scheduled to appear for the SSLC and higher secondary examinations to be held in the morning and afternoon. In the absence of public transport, ensuring that they reached schools would have been a challenge before the government.

Deliberation on the new dates for the examinations is likely at a meeting to be attended by Minister for General Education C. Ravindranath in the afternoon.