Bangalore: As many as 8.26 lakh students will appear for the SSLC exam, which will begin on March 28. This will include about 7.63 lakh freshers, 21,670 private candidates and 41,269 repeaters.

Speaking at the launch of the SSLC helpline here on Tuesday, Commissioner for Public Instruction Mohammad Mohsin said this would be the last year the traditional exam system was followed.

“From next year, we will switch to the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system,” he said.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 mandates the shift to the CCE system, which aims to evaluate the child’s understanding of the subjects, and will give different weightage to classroom activities, projects and tests.

Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) Director A. Devaprakash said the modalities of the CCE system were still being worked out by the board. However, he said that those who did not clear the examination this year would be given a few more chances to clear the examination.

Students will appear for the exam in as many as 3,016 examination centres across the State. To prevent malpractice, security measures have been put in place in 163 sensitive and 51 hypersensitive centres. Students can call the helpline on 080-23310075/ 23310076 to get their doubts cleared by subject experts as well as receive counselling for examination-related anxieties. The helpline will function between 10.15 a.m. and 5 p.m. between March 11 and March 27 and between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. from March 28 to April 9.

Mr. Mohsin said the timing would be extended from next week so that students could get their doubts clarified in the evening as well. Last year, the helpline received over 4,000 calls, Mr. Mohsin said.
Evaluation

In view of the Lok Sabha elections in the State on April 17, the evaluation of answer scripts will begin on April 19 instead of April 14.

KSEEB officials said the results were likely to be announced a month after evaluation work commenced.