Pandemic scare does not deterSSLC students in Belagavi

With over 96 % of students appearing for SSLC examination that began on Thursday, it seemed the COVID-19 scare did not deter the spirit of young students of Belagavi district.

Only 2,446 students of the 74,424 registered students remained absent for the examination on the first day. Officials say that this figure is in the range of average number of absentees in the recent years.

A student from Kittur who tested positive for COVID-19 and two of his friends who are in quarantine will be allowed to appear for the supplementary examination next month but will be treated as fresh students, Deputy Director of Public Instruction D.B. Pundalik said.

Some parents of students from villages in Maharashtra who had chosen to write the examination in Belagavi district came to drop their wards at the examination centres. They complained that the State government had forgotten its promise of running NWKRTC buses from border villages to the examination centres in Kagwad.

Vithal Rukmappa, who came from a village across the border, said that he had got up at 5.30 a.m. and rode nearly 20 kilometres to drop his son at the Kagwad exam centre. He said that the Karnataka government had promised to run NWKRTC buses to Maharashtra villages to facilitate SSLC students, but no buses were operated.

The examination was held in 271 examination centres in 18 taluks and Belagavi city. Those who appeared included 49 students from outside the State and 735 from outside the district. As many as 20 students from containment zones appeared for the examination in centres other than theirs. Staff at the exam centres recorded the temperature of each student and provided them with sanitiser. They were allowed into the halls only after they wore masks. Only one student was allowed to sit on one bench in the hall.

Education Department officials distributed 1.56 lakh masks, 955 thermal scanners and 1,136 litres of sanitiser among the examination centres.

A mock test was conducted in the examination centres on Wednesday.

Source: Read Full Article