Bengaluru, Jun 29 (IANS): Karnataka chief minister, B.S. Yediyurappa on Tuesday stepped in to clear the 'confusion' over the announcement of the Class 10 examination, which erupted after the education minister announced the dates on Monday.

Taking to Twitter, Yediyurappa said that there is no confusion over the announcement of conducting an examination for the state board's Class 10 (Secondary School Leaving Certificate - SSLC) on July 19 and 22.

"Prior to the announcement of dates to this crucial examination, our education minister (S. Suresh Kumar) had consulted with me and then he proceeded with the announcement. Hence, let none have any confusion over the date of examinations again," he said.

Following the tweet, health minister, K Sudhakar too clarified that there was no confusion over conducting SSLC examinations on July 19 and 22. "With CM himself clarifying there is no need to drag this matter any further," he told reporters prior to heading Mysuru to review Covid preparations.

The minister said that he had stated that he was kept in the dark about the education department's decision to conduct examinations at such a large scale across the state.

"I was not aware that the education department had consulted with the CM, perhaps I must be busy with other meetings, therefore, this announcement was made. I too came to know late in the evening of Monday that the education department had consulted with the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC-K) on Covid. But by then it was too late for me to issue any clarification," he said.

The confusion over conducting examinations to SSLC erupted soon after the education department, S. Suresh Kumar announced the dates on Monday.

Reacting to the media about the education department's decision, Sudhakar had retorted that he doesn't think that examination dates were announced after he or TAC was consulted. "I haven't spoken to Suresh Kumar (Education Minister) yet. I don't know if the directions have been given by health department officials, but we are concerned about children's health. I don't know if they spoke to the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) or not. I will talk to Kumar and TAC on this and then react," he said obliquely but expressed his anguish in clearest terms.

Following this, speculation gained momentum that SSLC examinations might yet again be postponed which had already been postponed multiple times due to the prevailing pandemic scenario in the state.

Regardless of the pandemic situation, as many as 8,76,581 students have registered for the examination and admission tickets will be sent to respective schools on June 30. The examination will be held at as many as 73,066 rooms as compared to 48,000 rooms during the last year, the education minister had stated on Monday.