Wasn’t aware of SSLC exam announcement, says Sudhakar

BENGALURU: A few hours after Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar announced that SSLC exams would be conducted in July in a safe manner like last year, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said he was not even aware of his colleague announcing the dates.

“I haven’t spoken to Suresh Kumar yet. I don’t know if the directions have been given by health department officials, but we are concerned about children’s health. I don’t know if they spoke to the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) or not. I will talk to Kumar and TAC on this and then react,” he said.

However, experts from the education field said the government cannot function without coordination. “Conducting examinations for so many children is a big challenge, especially when there is an emergence of a new variant,” a senior official said.

However, Suresh Kumar said the decision was taken only after a two-hour meeting with the health department officials, including the principal health secretary, and based on advice by TAC. The minister also clarified that after the meeting, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa also gave oral approval to the move. “All SOPs were issued by the health department, and the exam SOPs were released based on this,” Kumar said.

Answering a question on whether the Covid Technical Advisory Committee was being sidelined and recommendations of the Dr Devi Shetty-led committee were given preference, Dr Sudhakar said, “TAC gives overall recommendations as they are experts in community health and epidemiology, while the Devi Shetty committee is meant to get us to prepare for the third wave.”