The first day of School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examinations went
peacefully throughout the country Monday.
According to Harka Prasad Shrestha, controller of the Office of the
Controller of examination (OCE), no untoward incidents were reported till
mid-day in the course of exam of compulsory English.
"There are no reports of obstructions during examination process," he told
Nepalnews.
Surya Bahadur Dhungana, superintendent at the exam center of Padmodaya
Higher Secondary School in Kathmandu, also said no untoward incidents took
place in his exam center during the examinations.
Examinees said they were happy that the first day of the exams went
peacefully, but they expressed worry over existing daily power cuts.
A student Kalyan Gautam of Ratna Rajya School said the government should
end the long hours of load shedding at least during the period of SLC
exams. Other students also made the same complaint. Superintendent
Dhungana, too, stressed the need for removing the load shedding at least
at night.
Exam controller Shrestha said that necessary preparations have been made
to make the exam fair. In order to prevent complications during and after
the exams, arrangements like subject-wise packaging of question papers,
taking out the question papers on the particular day as per the exam
schedule of particular subject have been made.
A total of 379,377 students are appearing in this year's SLC examination.
Of the total students, 319,532 are regular and 59,845 are exempted
students. The regular students comprise 147,588 girls and exempted
consists of 34,788 girls.
This time, 112 students - 38 boys and 74 girls - will also appear in the
examination under open school category. This is the first time in the
history of SLC exams such students are allowed to appear the exams,
studying through radio, television and newspapers or other sources.
Similarly, two Pakistanis studying at the Embassy of Pakistan in Nepal are
also sitting for the exams.
The SLC exam will end on March 27. There are 1,299 exam centres throughout
the country and 36,500 personnel have been deployed for the exam this
year.
Jailbirds sit for SLC exam
Meanwhile, jailbirds have also appeared in SLC exam.
While fellow prisoners were probably thinking about breaking the
iron-gates of the jail in order to escape the boring life there, a
prisoner in Dolakha district sat for the exam.
Jit Bahadur Jirel, who is serving a 10-year sentence in Dolakha district
jail after being convicted of murder, sat for SLC exam as a private
student. Although he was supposed to go to Kutidanda Secondary School, the
center chosen for the exam, due to security reasons special arrangements
were made for him to give his exams at the jail itself. A separate
examiner was arranged for the purpose.
Similarly, four inmates of Nepalgunj Jail also sat for this year's SLC
examinations in a similar fashion. nepalnews.com ps/ia/ag Mar 17 08
