Kathmandu, March 27, 2006

The first day of School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination concluded peacefully with no untoward incident reported from any district. Gajendra Lal Pradhan, controller at Office of Controller of Examination (OCE) said the B1 and B2 sets of the central regions had a small error in the first question of the grammar section. “Since it was an error from our side, we have decided to provide the marks to whoever attempted the half-mark question of the grammar section,” said Pradhan. A total of 10 sets of question papers of English were distributed, two sets in each of the five regional districts. According to Pradhan, four invigilators of Bara district were dismissed from the job as they were found working against the examination code of conduct. In Pyuthan, district education officers worked as superintendents, as OCE could not send superintendents due to some technical problem. Some students were expelled for defying the examination code of conduct. The invigilators handed over Tara Chandra Shah, husband of examinee Mira Kumari, to the police for impersonating. In Rautahat, Bimal Pudasaina was impersonatingfor his sister, Prakash Pudasaini, whose candidacy was cancelled.

Partial solar eclipse on Wednesday

Partial solar eclipse can be viewed in Nepal on Wednesday when sun and moon cross each others paths in the solar system. The celestial event, which is scheduled to last from 4:59:33 to 6:16:38 Nepal Standar Time, can be best viewed with suitable goggles stipulated and tested to filter out ultraviolet rays. The first solar eclipse of 2006 can also be seen in India and other Asian nations of the region, though time and duration of the eclipse is bound to differ. The partial eclipse will cover only 2.85 per cent of the face of the sun. Though the B P Koirala Memorial Planetarium and Observatory had been organising eclipse viewing sessions in its own way in the past, the same stands ruled out since movement of people in and out of the Singha Durbar complex has been restricted due to security consideration. “We are not in a position to facilitate the viewing of the event through a telescope this time. But that cannot be expected to dampen the enthusiasm among people who lap up such events,” said Sanat Kumar Sharma, Joint Executive Director, B P Koirala Memorial Planetarium and Observatory. Sharma added, “We will be able to organise viewing sessions once we move to our new observatory, which is currently being built at a new site at Nagarkot.” He, however, cautioned the general public to refrain from viewing the eclipse with naked eye. The enthusiasts are also advised against viewing the celestial event with x-ray plates or mirrors besmeared with soot as some people have been known to do regardless of warning in this context.