The two-day Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) exam concluded on Thursday on a smooth note with 99.65% of the registered students, braving rain and the pandemic, turned up for the board exams. The results are expected in August second week.
The Malnad districts saw huge turnout of students despite the challenges posed by incessant rain and landslides.
At some rain-hit places, the department officials arranged vehicles to ferry students to exam centre and back home.
"Upon receiving the information a road in Chikkodi was blocked due to a tree fall, we immediately alerted the police and fire and emergency services. They rushed to the spot and cleared the road. All the 44 students attended the exams," said an official from Chikkodi Deputy Director of Public Instructions office.
A few ailing students wrote the exams from the hospital beds. This included a student from Bengaluru, who's down with jaundice, wrote his exams from the KC General hospital bed. A student with special abilities was accompanied by a nurse to the examination centre in Bengaluru while a student suffering from a rare disease wrote the exam lying on the floor of an examination centre at Bengaluru.
As many as 62 Covid-infected students appeared for the exams from the Covid Care Centres. A total of 152 candidates with Covid-like symptoms wrote the exams from the isolated rooms of the exam centres
Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar said: "We must appreciate students, parents and all the stakeholders and volunteers who extended their support... It (holding exams) was one of the best decisions taken in the interest of students."
12L seats available at PU colleges
Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar said about 12 lakh seats were available at pre-university colleges across the state. "In case any college needs an additional section, they can approach the pre-university education department and the same will be considered," he said.
Reopening decision soon
The decision on resumption of schools for offline classes will be taken in a couple of days. According to the Education minister, the government is waiting for the decision of the expert committee chaired by the Commissioner of the Department of Public Instruction. "The plan is to start offline classes first for higher grades. We will take a call once we receive the report," he added.