The Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) Board of Karnataka on Wednesday released a standard operating procedure (SOP) for conducting the SSLC examination, where it announced that provision for students with COVID-19 to write the exam will be made. The exams will be held from the third week of July according to the SOP. The SOP stated, “No student who tested positive for the coronavirus should be denied from attending the exam.” The SOP also stated that each taluk should have a COVID-19 Care Centre (CCC) from where arrangements will have to be made for the infected students to write the exam. In each CCC, a medical team with an ambulance has to be present.
Apart from this, each examination centre is mandated to have a functioning health counter where the students will be checked for fever before entering the examination hall and a mask will be provided to those who don’t have one. In addition, the SOP has instructed each examination centre to reserve two rooms as special rooms for students who have symptoms such as cold, cough and fever.
In addition to this, the SOP mentioned that a room may only contain 12 students with only one student per bench. The SOP instructed the concerned authorities to sanitise the rooms, furniture and the washrooms before and after each examination. It also instructed the concerned authorities of the examination centre to prevent students gathering in crowds.
It further said that everyone involved in the examination procedure such as teachers, officers and other staff will have to get at least one dose of vaccination with the help of the district administration. Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar in a statement instructed that the Deputy Commissioner, Superintendent of Police and CEO will be held responsible for ensuring that all the necessary protocols are followed before examination, as per the SOP.