Amaravati, May 2 (IANS): The Andhra Pradesh government on Sunday decided to postpone the Class 12 board examinations conducted by the state board after the Andhra Pradesh High Court asked it to reconsider its decision to hold the board exams.

The state government has to submit an affidavit in this regard to the court by May 3.

Education Minister Adimulapu Suresh said, "In the view of Andhra Pradesh High Court's observation, we have decided to postponed the Class 12 board exams which were to begin from May 5."

"There is no centralised rule in place to conduct the board exams. Some states have conducted them while some haven't. We have made adequate arrangements for conducting the board exams in a safe manner keeping the safety of students and teachers on priority," the minister added.

Over the past few days, the opposition parties, particularly the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), students and parents, have been demanding the cancellation of the board exams on the account of rising Covid cases and deaths in the state. However last week, Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy had categorically ruled out the cancellation of the examinations.

With several petitions filed seeking cancellation of the board exams on account of spiralling Covid cases, the Court heard the matter on Friday and directed the state government to submit an affidavit by May 3.