Telangana Intermediate exams begin: smooth start for students, traffic woes for parents

Parents eagerly await students outside exam centres in Hyderabad as students express confidence in exams amidst logistical challenges.

As the clock ticked towards noontime, the narrow lanes of Kamala Nagar in Hyderabad’s ECIL were packed with nearly a hundred parents waiting outside CMS Commerce Junior College. Their vehicles lined the streets as they anticipated the exit of their children, who had just completed the Second Language Paper-1 of the Telangana first-year Intermediate examinations. The exams, which commenced on Wednesday, March 5, will continue until March 25.

Although the hall ticket instructed students to be seated by 8:30 a.m., many examination centres permitted candidates to enter until or slightly past 9 a.m.

Students, relieved to have started with a language paper, expressed confidence about the upcoming exams. “The paper was easy. It’s a good thing that the exam schedule began with a language subject, this way, we didn’t have to deal with heavy stress from the start. Now that we are in the right mindset, all the exams will go well,” said Praneeth, a student from Narayana Junior College, ECIL.

Traffic police struggled for an hour to clear the sudden congestion across the city as students exited examination centres simultaneously.

At the Resonance Junior College examination centre in Jubilee Hills, Nandita, a student from Sri Chaitanya Junior College, noted that the arrangements inside the centre were well-organised. “There was drinking water available, and everything was managed properly,” she said, while her father waited by her side.

A distinctive feature of this year’s examination is the introduction of QR-coded hall tickets and bar-coded 24-page answer books. Additionally, all question papers, including their covers and inside pages, come with unique codes, ensuring a secure and foolproof system for printing, distribution and evaluation.

However, not all students had a smooth experience regarding accessibility. A student from Narayana Junior College, Moti Nagar, who had to take the exam at a centre in Madhapur, pointed out the inconvenience of the location. “The centre is far from home, and buses don’t ply on this route,” the student said, highlighting the logistical challenges faced by some candidates.