Odisha Human Rights Commission allows Board of Secondary Education to hold test for special students

This year, results of all the 2255 students who appeared in correspondence mode were not published and they have to appear for the offline exam.

BHUBANESWAR:  The Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) on Thursday vacated its stay order and allowed the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) to hold the offline matriculation exam of 139 differently-abled students from Friday.

The special students of nine schools, run by NGOs and Red Cross Society with 100 per cent grant-in-aid by Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department (SSEPD), had earlier this week sought grace marks from the BSE citing their inability to write the offline test due to lack of scribes, transportation facility to the exam centres and provision for accommodation. Considering their difficulties, OHRC had stayed the exam.

However, while hearing a review petition filed by the BSE on the day, OHRC directed it to arrange scribes for the 55 blind students and SSEPD to look into transportation facility of all the 139 students to the nine exam centres at Balasore, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Nimapara in adherence to the Covid-19 guidelines. It further directed the BSE that 40 minutes of extra time be given to the students for the tests.

BSE Vice-President Nihar Ranjan Mohanty informed the rights panel that as nine schools are not recognised by it, students have been appearing for the HSC exam through correspondence mode for several years now. This year, results of all the 2255 students who appeared in correspondence mode were not published and they have to appear for the offline exam.

Students, however, alleged that they are being made to suffer due to lack of coordination between the BSE and SSEPD. “Although SSEPD provides full grant-in-aid to our schools, the BSE refuses to affiliate them as a result of which, we are forced to appear for the exam through correspondence. And unlike the other correspondence students, all of us had attended the 100-day offline classes in our schools which is mandatory for qualifying for alternative assessment”, said a student requesting anonymity.