BENGALURU: On Saturday, SSLC students were busy answering their mathematics paper, when there was some commotion. The exam centres across the State saw elected representatives entering the examination halls and taking pictures, much to the chagrin of the others. The legislators, it is said, were concerned and wanted to see for themselves the arrangements made.
Responding to this, Minister of Primary and Secondary Education S Suresh Kumar said, “We (legislators) must also know our limits. I will send the message to the others in the political fraternity.” Causing concern all round, a 16-year-old student tested positive while writing the exam at Mallipattana government high school in Arkalgud taluk in Hassan district on Saturday.
In a report, the department said that the student was asymptomatic and was being tested for dengue, during which, she was swabbed for Covid-19. The reports arrived towards the end of the examination, and she was shifted to another room.
An Extension Officer from the Department of Backward Classes, who was an observer for the English examination, tested positive a day later. New officials were appointed at the exam centre, said the minister.
Ankarakona in Uttara Kannada, that witnessed a positive case on Friday night, was turned into a quarantine zone. Eight SSLC students from the area were taken to their centres in two special buses, said the minister.
On the other hand, even as Bengaluru saw an all-time high number of positive cases on Saturday, the BBMP gave the education department the green signal to conduct exams at two centres in Bengaluru South—one at Lourde High School at Cubbonpet and another Bandhary School on Kilari Road.
The minister deemed the maths exam a success, with a 97.93 per cent attendance of the 8,08,650 candidates across 2,879 centres in the State.