The Senior Secondary School Leaving Certificate exams (SSLC) is scheduled to take place on July 19 and July 22, Karnataka’s minister for primary and secondary education, S Suresh Kumar announced.

Students will take the exam for core subjects (maths, science and social studies) on July 19 while language papers (first, second and third) will be held on July 22. This time, students will take 120-marks multiple-choice-questions-only paper with 40 marks per subject. The exam will be held between 10.20 am and 1.30 pm.

Addressing the media on Monday, Suresh Kumar said that this year, over 8.76 lakh students will appear for exams in 73,066 exam rooms across the state. Hall tickets will be made available to school authorities on Tuesday.  

Provisions have been made for symptomatic students and students who have tested positive but are willing to write to appear for this year’s board exam. An isolation room will be identified in each centre where such students will be isolated.

The education department had also said that students can take exams in centres close to their current residence if they travelled elsewhere due to the pandemic. “Atleast 10,000 students have opted to write the exams from centres close to their current place of residence. Some of them have migrated from cities to other places in the State due to the pandemic and this initiative will help such students,” he said.

To ensure social distancing, Section 144 will be imposed in a 200 metres radius around the exam centres. Besides, the minister has directed staff on invigilation duty, the police department and health department officials to report to centres at 8.30 am. “Students are bound to be anxious and reach centres before time. Officials must be prepared to let them in. Students must not gather outside exam halls and must be let inside the premises as soon as they reach. This will avoid crowding,” Suresh Kumar said.

A directive has been rolled out in coordination with the department of health and family welfare to ensure that all teachers are vaccinated within one week. While students will be allowed to wear cotton or cloth masks, invigilators will be provided N95 masks and face shields.

Second PU results

Results of second PU students will be announced in the second week of July, the minister announced. 

Also read: Karnataka: Covid positive students can take SSLC exams too