Mangaluru : As many as 32,567 students, including 441 from Kerala, will write the SSLC examination at 179 centres in Dakshina Kannada on July 19 and July 22.

To ensure social distancing, Deputy Director of Public Instruction Malleswamy said that only 12 students will be permitted to sit in a classroom as against 18 permitted in the earlier years. Two rest rooms will be provided at each centre for students found with symptoms of COVID-19.

Arrangements are being made for COVID-19 positive students to write the examination at the COVID Care Centres. They will be brought to the care centres in ambulances.

Mr. Malleswamy said that 3,708 personnel will be deputed for examination work. All these invigilators and 10% additional personnel, which comes to 4,300 personnel, have received their vaccine.

Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra said that the district administration, like last year, will make arrangements to transport Kerala students from the border checposts to the nearby examination centres. If parents do not want their children to make use of this facility but themselves want to drop them in their vehicles, they should carry their COVID-19 test negative certificate, he said.

Dr. Rajendra said that as there was two days gap between the exam dates, action will be taken to fully sanitise all rooms in the examination centres between July 19 and July 22.

Preparations
To prepare students for the new multiple choice question (MCQ) paper format, Mr. Malleswamy said that children have been provided with bank of MCQs for all the six subjects. This question bank is in addition to two model question papers each for every subject released by the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board.

“Teachers are in touch with students and are preparing them in answering questions in OMR sheets,” he said.

Ruling out calling students physically to schools for a short-period before the examination to prepare them to face the new format, Mr. Malleswamy said that standard operating procedure does not permit conducting such an exercise.

On Saturday, district in-charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary chaired a review meeting on arrangements for the SSLC examination. Mangaluru City South MLA D. Vedavyas Kamat, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Kumara and Superintendent of Police Rishikesh Sonawane participated in the meeting.