KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 23

National Examinations Board is all set to conduct the examination of Grade XII from tomorrow amidst the coronavirus crisis.

Regular examination will be held until December 1.

The NEB, after a long halt, had devised a new protocol allowing students to take the exam for 40 per cent marks.

The protocol allowed students to sit for the exam at their own schools, while the exam hour was also reduced to 1.5 hours from the previous standard time of three hours.

As for the remaining 60 per cent marks, NEB will provide 40 per cent marks on the basis of the marks obtained by students in Grade XI and schools can provide the remaining 20 per cent marks on the basis of internal evaluation of students.

Meanwhile, the NEB has allowed students to reappear for the exam on another day if they have contracted the COVID-19 infection. However, the NEB has not yet received any information from schools about such students, according to Chandra Mani Paudel, chairman of NEB.

“We will keep records and verify the COVID-19 test reports of students if schools send us information of such students during the exam, and conduct exams for them at a later date,” Paudel said.

The NEB has facilitated 4,105 schools with safety equipment where the exam will be held. The NEB has also mandated all schools to set up a health desk, which will monitor social distancing norms at the school. The protocol also devised compulsory masks for students, teachers and staffers at the examination centre. Similarly, each student will be placed at least two metres apart from each other.

The fate of around 450,000 students of Grade XII had been hanging in the balance due to the pandemic. The exam scheduled from April 20 was deferred indefinitely as the nation went into lockdown on March 24.

The NEB had earlier taken a strong stand on conducting the examination with the physical presence of students.

The board had come up with the idea after its earlier decision to allow schools to provide marks of students of Grade X on the basis of internal evaluation drew flak.

As many as 9,019 students had acquired the highest GPA, 4.0, after schools provided marks to students on their own. Last year, only 106 students had acquired 4.0 GPA. The year before, the number of students acquiring 4.0 GPA was 74.

The result had also drawn criticism from all quarters since most of the private schools manipulated the result of their students. However, most government schools had refrained from doing so.

Paudel said, “We hope that such practice will not repeat this time as the examination is being conducted with the physical presence of students and on the basis of results of Grade XI.”