Bengaluru, With the nationwide 21-day Covid-19 lockdown set to continue for another two weeks, Karnataka has postponed board exams for class 10 and one paper of class 12, state education minister S. Suresh Kumar said on Thursday.

"Board exams for the secondary school leaving certificate (SSLC) and the pre-university course (PUC) have been postponed to May from April, as the lockdown and restrictions on movement of people are likely to continue till this month-end to contain the coronavirus spread," Kumar told reporters here.

The SSLC exams were already put off to April 20 from March 27 to April 9 after the nationwide lockdown was enforced on March 25.

"We will announce the new exam schedule one week before the commencement so as to give enough time to prepare, as they have been postponed again due to extraordinary situation arising out of the pandemic crisis," Kumar said.

About 8 lakh students have registered to appear for the SSLC board exams, which have been put off for the first time in many years.

Though PUC board exams began on schedule on March 4, the last exam (chemistry) could not be held on March 23 as nine districts in the state were shut down till March 31.

"Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission to engineering and medical courses is also postponed from April 23 to a later date, which will be announced in advance after the situation returns to normalcy in the state," Kumar said.

The class 10 and class 12 exams in central schools by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) were also postponed in March and their new dates are yet to be announced.

"Exams of under-graduate courses in the state universities have also been deferred to May," Kumar added.