In tussle between school managements and parents, many miss SSLC exam

Many students missed the SSLC examination that kicked off on Monday. The reason being some school managements denying admission tickets to students who were unable to pay the fees during the pandemic-hit year. S. Suresh Kumar, Primary and Secondary Education Minister, has said that appropriate action will be initiated if complaints are received against school managements. He also said that students who missed the examination will be allowed to appear for the supplementary exam as fresh candidates. Mr. Kumar said students were unable to get admission tickets for two reasons. “The school would have registered students for the examination and the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board would have issued the hall ticket, but the school would have refused to give students the ticket as they may not have paid fees. In such instances, students can approach the Block Education Officers. Many BEOs have interviewed and issued admission tickets using their login id,” he said. However, in many instances, the school has not registered the students as they did not pay fees. “In such instances, students will have to appear for the supplementary examination,” he said. The Minister said it came to his notice that 30 students of Mahatma Gandhi High School in Haveri were not given hall tickets despite paying the school fees. These students will be allowed to write the supplementary examination and be considered as fresh candidates. The Department of Primary and Secondary Education has sought a report from officials after the student of a private school in Dakshina Kannada had complained that the school was refusing to give her admission ticket as she had not paid fees. In all the three core subjects, the percentage of candidates who appeared for the examination was higher than last year. As many as 99.64% of the 8,52,191 candidates registered for mathematics appeared on Monday. Last year, the turnout was 98.3%. A total of 99.62% of 8,43,976 students attempted the science paper - an increase from 98.36% last year. The social science paper was attempted by 99.65% of the registered 8,24,689 candidates against last year’s 98.43%. In many centres across the State, the school managements had decorated the school giving it a festive look. At some places, students were provided breakfast and lunch. Out of the 770 students who registered for the exam from neighbouring States, all except one were present. Vehicles were arranged by officials to pick them up from the border. A fire was reported in Heera Public School at Babbukatte in Ullal due to a short circuit in the biology laboratory room around 10.50 a.m. All 208 students were moved to the opposite degree college where they wrote the exam. Students were given additional time. No one was injured. In some centres, there was water logging due to rain and civic officials were roped in. Elsewhere, while teachers ensured that there was adequate physical distance in the centre and only one student per bench, social distancing was absent outside the centres. Although some centre heads asked the students to disperse, not many heeded to their advice.

Exam easy

With the change in the SSLC exam pattern this year, students found the core subjects easy as they attempted multiple-choice questions this year. Each subject carries 40 marks and the duration has been reduced to two days from the earlier one week due to the second wave. The Department of Primary and Secondary Education has said that all students who appear for the examination will be deemed as pass, but the students will be assessed based on their performance. Source - The Hindu