COVID-19: Telangana promotes students of Classes 1 to 9 without exams

On April 26, the COVID-19 tally in Telangana breached the four-lakh mark with 6,551 fresh infections

Moneycontrol News

April 26, 2021 / 04:42 PM IST

Telangana has promoted all students from Class 1 to Class 10 after the cancellation of exams due to the rise in COVID-19 cases. The state government has also announced summer vacations for schools and colleges in the state from April 27 to May 31.

"In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Telangana government has decided to promote 53,79,388 students studying in Classes 1 to 9 to the next class without examination," state Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy said.

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A decision on reopening schools and junior colleges will be taken on June 1, the minister said.

The Telangana government had earlier promoted 5,21,392 Class 10 (SSC) students without exams and postponed the Class 12 final exams amid rising coronavirus cases.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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