Bengaluru,  Amid the Covid pandemic's second wave, Karnataka has postponed the final year pre-university course (PUC) board exams, scheduled to be held from May 24 to June 16 for the safety of students, state Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar said on Tuesday.

"The Education Department has decided to postpone the final year board exams of the 2-year PUC on the advice of the technical advisory committee on Covid crisis management," he told reporters here.

Practical exams in science subjects had already been deferred.

The department had also received representation from students and their parents to put off the annual exams, as the state is in the grip of the pandemic.

A total of 6,86,708 candidates, including 5,92,816 regular, 76,422 repeaters and 17,470 private students, have registered to appear for the PUC board exams in 1,047 centres at 5,562 colleges across the state.

"New dates for the exams will be announced in the near future after assessing the situation, as health of students and faculty is paramount.

"The new exam dates will be announced at least 3 weeks before they begin so as to give enough time for students to prepare afresh," said Kumar.

Though the PUC exams last year began on schedule in March, the last paper (English) was held on June 18 after it was postponed twice in March and April due to the extended Covid lockdown. Results were declared in late July.

The annual exams for first-year PUC have already been cancelled and students promoted to second year, based on their internal performance during 2020-21 academic year, although offline classes were disrupted since June last year.

"Bridge courses will be held for students going into second year before the start of the 2021-22 academic year. They will also be available on YouTube channel of the department," the minister said.