• OCE to provide examinees 'application memo' on the last day

Kathmandu, March 30

This year’s School Leaving Certificate examinations are beginning from tomorrow.

According to the Office of the Controller of the Examinations, a total of 615,553 students are appearing in the examinations from 1,943 exam centres set up across the country for the purpose.

Of the total examinees, 452,881(227,535 girls and 225,346 boys) are from the regular category, while 159,417 examinees (97,036 girls and 62,381 boys) are from the exempted category.

Similarly, a total of 3,255 examinees (1,273 girls and 1,982 boys) are appearing in the SLC examinations under the technical and vocation stream.

Krishna Prasad Kapri, examination controller, OCE, today said, “We are committed to conducting the examinations in a peaceful manner,” he said. While the general stream examinations will end on April 8, tests for the technical and vocational stream will continue till April 11.

OCE will deploy a total of 72,893 officials, including 1,943 superintendents, 2,978 assistant superintendents, 25,556 invigilators, 13,274 office assistants and 29,145 security personnel to monitor the examinations across the country.

Each exam centre will have a superintendent apart from an assistant superintendent for every 150 examinees, one invigilator for every 20 examinees and an office assistant for every 50 examinees. Likewise, 15 security personnel will be deployed to maintain security in and around each exam centre.

Each exam superintendent will get Rs 800 per day as allowance. Similarly, assistant superintendent will get Rs 500 per day, invigilator Rs 350, office assistant Rs 200 and security personnel Rs 150 each.

As a new practice, the OCE will provide ‘application memo’ to examinees with their personal details to minimise errors while publishing results. The students will be given the memo, which will include details such as their name, address, school’s name, exam centre, date of birth, on the last day of their examinations.

If there is any mistake in the memo, the student may file a complaint seeking correction at respective district education offices. Introduction of the grading system is another new change in this year’s School Leaving Certificate examinations.

The exams will take place for three hours from 8:00 am.

Joint-secys in districts for monitoring

Kathmandu, March 30

Most of the joint-secretaries deployed by the Ministry of Education to monitor the SLC examinations have already reached various districts.

Apart from superintendents, assistant superintendents, invigilators and other regular staffers, the MoE has deployed more than a dozen joint secretaries to cover all the 75 districts.

Hari Lamsal, spokesperson for the education ministry, today said he had already reached Biratnagar to monitor the examinations from tomorrow. He said that he will be paying inspection visits to exam centres in various districts of Mechi zone.

“We have been deployed to ensure that the examinations take place fairly and to support the officials deployed for the examinations. “Our presence in the districts will also help coordination with the central level in case of any difficulty during the examinations.”

Diwakar Dhungel, executive director, Non-Formal Education Centre, said he had reached Parbat today for the SLC examinations. “I will be visiting exam centres in four districts of Dhaulagiri zone during the SLC exams.”

According to the MoE, officials from the Office of the Controller of the Examination, Regional Education Directorate and district education offices will also be deployed to monitor the examinations.

Disabled students using scribes unlikely to get extra time

Bhaktapur, March 30

Differently-abled students, who are going to use scribes in the School Leaving Certificate examinations beginning tomorrow, are unlikely to get extra-time to complete their tests.

Deputy controller Anupam Chandra Shrestha today said, “Differently-abled examinees who will be using a scribe to assist them write their paper can complete their test within three hours. They will need no extra time as the scribe will help them.”

However, as the scribe may not use his conscience, exam superintendent or district education officers can allow extra time to examinees with multiple disabilities, he said.

“If the examinee has multiple disabilities and fails to complete the exam within three hours, the exam superintendent or district education officers can allow them extra time on their discretion,” he added.

He also urged the exam superintendents to strictly follow the Superintendents’ Directives Mannual-2016 during the SLC examinations.

Clause (h) of Rule 1 of the manual states that a differently-abled SLC examinee, who is completely blind and whose both hands don’t work, can seek the help of a Grade IX student and has to attempt the exam within three hours.

Clause (i) of Rule 1 states that a differently-abled SLC examinee, who is partially blind, hearing impaired, deaf, mentally retarded or those who are physically incapacitated, cannot complete their exam within the given time and will be provided with extra one-and-a-half hours to complete their test.

Meanwhile, differently-abled students using scribes are preparing for the exams with the hope that they would be allowed extra time. They have demanded more than one-and-a-half hour extra time mentioned in the manual, saying it takes more time while using a scribe to write their paper.