1. 34,709 students applied for rechecking
2. 64,000 applications for reverification
3. 2,112 for recounting

The Directorate of Government Examinations, Andhra Pradesh, finds itself at the center of a political and public storm over the evaluation of SSC answer scripts for the March 2025 Public Examinations. While officials laud the process as one of the most accurate and transparent in recent years, the opposition and other critics have come down heavily on the government, alleging systemic failures and mishandling of students’ future.

According to official data, a total of 45,96,527 answer scripts were evaluated by a team of 16,482 Assistant Examiners, 5,494 Special Assistants, and 2,747 Chief Examiners. Each assistant handled around 40 papers per day, helping conclude the task. The Directorate also pointed to its consistently high accuracy rates — 99.76% in 2025, slightly better or on par with the past three years.

After results were declared, 34,709 students applied for rechecking, including over 64,000 applications for reverification and 2,112 for recounting. Following the scrutiny, 11,175 scripts saw mark changes, while the remaining 55,188 scripts were confirmed accurate, reaffirming the 99.76% accuracy rate, according to the Directorate. Notably, only 0.068% of all evaluated scripts recorded changes above five marks. Five evaluators were suspended for procedural violations, and the Department emphasized this as evidence of its commitment to accountability and academic fairness.

However, former Chief Minister and YSRCP President Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy lashed out at the TDP-led coalition government, accusing it of failing students and dismantling the education system. “Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Education Minister Nara Lokesh have utterly failed even in conducting basic exam evaluations. Their incompetence has pushed students and parents into anxiety and mistrust,” Jagan wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Citing errors found in the evaluation process, Jagan said that over six lakh students had worked hard day and night, and yet were subjected to distress due to mishandled results. “Who will take responsibility for these blunders?” he questioned.

Education Minister Nara Lokesh countered the criticism sharply, reminding Jagan of his controversial past. “A person who failed both in public life and personal responsibility, and who was caught stealing SSC papers as a child, has no moral ground to speak on education,” Lokesh said in a press statement.

He highlighted the corrective steps taken under the current regime, including reversing the premature CBSE exam pattern rollout initiated by the YSRCP. “When we conducted a diagnostic test soon after I took charge, 90% of students failed due to poor preparedness. Especially for girl students, failing SSC can mean the end of education. We postponed CBSE implementation to first equip teachers and students,” Lokesh said, pointing to the long-term damage caused by the previous administration’s “unplanned and arrogant decisions.”

Adding fuel to the fire, Andhra Pradesh Congress Chief Y.S. Sharmila described the spat between Jagan and Lokesh as a case of “devils quoting the scriptures.” She criticized both YSRCP and the current coalition government for systematically degrading the education system over the past decade.

“In the YSRCP regime, every year about 20% of students who failed in the SSC exam passed after re-evaluation. Now, under the TDP-led government, over 11,000 out of 30,000 re-evaluation applicants have received significantly higher marks. This calls into question the sincerity and discipline of the entire correction process,” Sharmila wrote in a tweet. “This is nothing but a clear sign of lack of transparency. The entire education system has been pushed into disarray.”

She further accused both governments of playing with children’s futures while showing greater commitment to politics and power than to academic integrity. “It’s not the students who have failed — it’s the governments, both past and present,” she said.

While the Directorate has taken steps like sharing scanned copies of answer scripts with reverification applicants — a move widely praised by parents and students — public confidence in the system appears shaken. To ease the situation, the Directorate has coordinated with Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT) to keep a special application window open from June 2 to June 10.