SSLC exams begin in Karnataka with safety measures for COVID-19

Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) or class 10 exams commenced across Karnataka in every district on Monday. The SSLC exams for this year had been modified to only take place on two days due to the pandemic situation. The exams will only be conducted on Monday, July 19 and Thursday, July 22. A total of 8.76 lakh students would attend the exams this year

On each of the days, three OMR (Optical Mark recognition or Optical Mark Reading) sheets, would be provided to the students for three respective subjects where students will have to answer multiple choice questions for all the three subjects. Exams of the three core subjects will take place on Monday and exams for the three language subjects will take place on Thursday.

The government had also made travel through buses free for all the students who travel to their respective examination centers. Further, the government also made bus arrangements for students travelling from Kerala at the Talapady check post near Mangaluru.

When TNM visited a few schools in Bengaluru, it was observed that all the necessary COVID-19 protocols were being followed at the entrance of the examination centers. There were ASHA workers who were providing sanitizers to students and thermal screening was being done. Squares were marked for the students to wait before entering the examination center and police personnel stayed around the centers to ensure that there was no crowding. Also, Scouts and Guides personnel had volunteered at the schools to ensure that the norms were being followed.

According to the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) released by the government, each class should only have a maximum of 12 students during the exam and each center to have two rooms specifically dedicated to students who showed any COVID-19 symptoms such as fever, cough or cold. Measures were also taken to ensure that even students who have tested positive for COVID-19 would be allowed to write exams from a COVID-19 care center situated in their respective taluks.