Over 4.76 Lakh to Write SSLC Exam
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Over 4.76 lakh students will appear for the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination that begins on Wednesday. Compared to last year, as many as 6,000 more students will write the exam this time. Addressing a news conference here, Director of Public Instruction (DPI) M S Jaya said students from 3,038 schools will sit for the exam this year. Of the 4.76 lakh students (2,33,094 girls and 2,41,192 boys), 4,74,286 are regular candidates from 1,157 government schools, 1,502 aided schools and 379 unaided schools. Also, 2,591 private candidates are writing the exam this year.
The examination will be conducted in 2,903 centres, including nine centres in the Gulf and a few centres in the Lakshadweep. The examinations will be held in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and English languages. The examination in Kannada medium will be held for students in Kasargod district, while students from Palakkad, Idukki and Thiruvananthapuram can write exam in Tamil language also. With 83,515 students, Malappuram district tops the list of number of students registered for the exam, while the lowest number of registration is in Pathanamthitta district (12451), she said.
As many as 2,347 candidates will sit for the exam at PKM High School, Edarikode, in Malappuram district - the highest in the state. St Mary’s HSS, Pattom in T’Puram comes next with 1,647. With just three students, Govt HS, Perinchakutty in Idukki district and GRFTHS and VHSS Beypore, are the last in the list. The DPI said among the 43 educational districts, Malappuram (28052) has the highest number of candidates, while Kuttanad has the lowest (2,428).
Results before April 25
Jaya said that efforts were on to publish the results before April 25. She admitted that there had been some confusion regarding the valuation processes last year. But this time, the preparations had begun in September itself. The final scrutiny of the data was held by November using IHR software. There will be 54 valuation centres across the state, she added.
17,000 Applications for Allowing Scribes
The DPI said there have been an increase in the number of students who have applied for allotment of scribes. As many as 17,000 applications had been received in this regard this year. She pointed out that despite strict direction to submit the application on or before December 31, several students with learning disabilities were allowed to submit the application till February. The absence of psychologists in each district was the main reason cited for the delay. From next year, students with learning disabilities will have to submit the disability certificate by the time they complete class IV. A directive in this regard will be issued soon.
In the case of autistic children, their resource teachers will be allowed to be present during the exams if they have psychological barriers in dealing with strangers. However, the DPI pointed out that there were complaints of malpractices by LD candidates, and there were instances of some of such students claiming even A-Plus in all subjects. It would be near impossible for such students to cope up with their studies in Plus-One classes, she added. Examination secretary K I Lal also attended the news conference.
1,48,093 to Write in English Medium
Of the 4,74,286 regular candidates, as many as 1,48,093 will write the examination in English medium this time, against the 1,30,093 in 2015. As many as 3,20,894 students will write the exam in Malayalam medium, while 3,135 will write in Kannada and 2,164 in Tamil medium.