new Delhi: Amid covid fear and hijab ban Karnataka SSLC exam has started from Monday. But, 20,994 students did not appear in the first examination. The Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) said it did not have details of the reasons why so many students were absent from the exams.
The number of absentees has increased almost six times compared to last year. Last year, 3,769 students missed the exam as against 20,994 this year.
“Last year was all promotion policy. Hence, most of the registered students appeared for the exam. The exam also had Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs), where students had to attempt the exam on OMR sheets. However, as quoted by The Times of India KSEEB Director Gopal Krishna HN said, the exam rules are pre-covid time and normal.
The Director of KSEEB further said that the number of absentees in the pre-covid times was the same as in the current year.
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While the hijab controversy did not cause much disruption, two cases were reported from Hubli and Bagalkot. Though it was expected that they would be absent due to the COVID scare, no such case was reported across the state as 336 students, who had cold, cough and other symptoms, were arranged to write the exam in special rooms. The Times of India said in a report.
Every exam center has reportedly maintained the COVID protocol as they have installed sanitizers and temperature checks. With a total of 8,69,399 registered for the SSLC exam, 8,48,405 students appeared on the first day of the exam.
Meanwhile, a teacher, who had supervised duty at Siddaganga High School in north Bengaluru, was sacked from examination duty after she allegedly allowed students wearing hijab to appear in the examination.
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