Bhaktapur, February 1:

Officials concerned, citing delays in taking a decision on printing of School Level Certificate SLC) question papers, said today that it will be difficult to conduct this year’s SLC examinations on time. The unrest in the Terai will also affect the date of the SLC examinations.

According to Purna Bahadur Ranabhat, controller of the Office of Controller of Examination (OCE), SLC board, a high-level ministerial meeting has to decide whether to print SLC question papers in Nepal or in India.

Agreeing that the printing of question papers has already been delayed by a month, he, however, said the OCE will work to conduct the SLC examinations on time.

The OCE had announced that SLC examination will begin on April 4 and estimated that around four lakh students will sit for the exam.

“Though it will be hard to conduct the exam on time, we are planning to stick to the schedule,” Ranabhat said.

A source at the OCE said high-level officials at the Ministry of Education and Sports will decide, in a few days, where to print the question papers. “There is a high chance that SLC question papers will be printed in India on the ground of secrecy,” the source said. SLC question papers were printed in the country last year. The OCE landed into controversy as question papers were leaked.

Due to the unrest in the Terai, the government and private schools’ organisations have not been able to conduct the sent-up examinations.

BN Sharma, vice-president of the Private and Boarding Schools Organisation of Nepal PABSON), said the sent-up examinations could not be conducted on time due to the unrest in the Terai. The sent-up examinations of PABSON have already been postponed four times. Though the sent-up examinations were scheduled to take place on January 25, they were subsequently put off till January 28, February 1 and February 4.

“Earlier the students used to get at least five weeks to prepare for the SLC examinations after the sent-up examinations. The delay in conducting sent-up examinations will affect students’ performance,” said Sharma.

Though sent-up examinations were scheduled to begin in the eastern region today, they could not take place in 12 districts of the Terai.

Saying that students’ performance will be affected, organisations of private schools have requested the OCE to postpone the SLC examinations. “But the OCE has been reluctant to postpone the exams. It has agreed to extend the SLC form submission date by two weeks,” said Sharma.