-Reshma Ravishanker

Of the 8.6 lakh students who registered for the 2021 class X SSLC exam, 99.67 percent – 8.5 lakh students wrote the exam on July 19. This was the first of two papers with the second – on languages – scheduled for  July 22. This year’s attendance is higher than the 98.3 percent in the academic year 2019-20.  Education minister Suresh Kumar visited various exam centres in Bengaluru and inspected the arrangements in particular implementation of Covid-19 safety protocols. Addressing the media, he said that the results will be announced on August 10 or 11.

Special provision was made for students with symptoms of Covid-19 to write the exams in special rooms. 111 students with Covid-19 symptoms wrote their exams across the state. Students who had travelled to other districts during the Covid prompted lockdown and could not return to their hometown were given an option to appear for exams in centres close to their current place of residence. 10693 students benefited from this initiative.

770 students from neighbouring states including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu also wrote the SSLC exams  – among these students, not even one student was absent. 

This year the class X SSLC exam is being conducted over two days: July 19 for core subjects – mathematics, science and social science; and July 22 for language subjects

Fire at Haveri exam centre

Day one of the SSLC exam was an unpleasant experience for 36 students from a private school in Dakshina Kannada district. An accidental fire in the exam centre forced a last-minute venue change, causing panic and anxiety within students.

The fire started following a short circuit in one of the rooms of a private high school building, a designated exam centre. The 36 students had to later be moved to a first-grade college nearby.

“Fortunately, no untoward incident happened. Students and staff on examination duty were not hurt in the incident. Students were given additional time to compensate the time lost in centre relocation. Fire tenders rushed to the spot and the police was called for interrogation,” said Suresh Kumar, minister for primary and secondary education addressing the media.  

In another incident, 30 students could not take the exams on Monday as they had not received hall tickets, despite paying the examination fee.

“In Haveri district, 30 students had filled their application forms and paid the examination fee to school authorities. However, as the teacher concerned had failed to deposit this fee with the state board, the students did not get hall tickets. These students will be given an opportunity to write the supplementary exams in August,” said Suresh Kumar.

Also read: Class X and XII board exams 2021 status across different states in India