The Office of the Controller of Examinations has set up 1,862 exam centers across the country and appointed equal number of superintendents and 2,440 assistant superintendents to supervise the centers. Likewise, 2,314 invigilators, 7,699 peons and 27,930 security personnel will be deployed to hold the exams successfully, said Examinations Controller Bishnu Bhadur Dware.
For the first time, the technical subject examinees will receive their results under the new grading system. As many as 3,288 students of technical subjects are appearing in SLC, 2,037 of whom are boys and 1,251 are girls.
Interestingly, for the first time in the history of SLC exams, girls outnumber boys as examinees. This year, there will be 1,206 more girls appearing in the exams, with a total of 213, 710 females and 212,504 males taking the exams.
To create a friendly atmosphere for the students who would be under pressure while appearing in the exams that is often referred to as an iron gate, the staff at the exam centers in Surkhet will be giving a smiling welcome to the students.
"The staffs' behaviors will ease the anxiety of the students," said Regional Educational Director Ram Prasad Upadhyay. A total of 80,500 students are expected to appear in the exam from this region.
In a major respite to the visually-impaired students, the OCE has decided to allow a ninth grader student to assist them during the exam.
In the past, blind students were allowed to take the help of eighth graders or those in the lower grades.
However, the students in Nepalgunj have said that the new provision would not be of much help. Most "special examinees" are nervous because they have to depend on the student assisting them to put the answers to their answer sheet.
Suresh Yogi, a visually impaired examinee of Mangal Prasad Higher Secondary School, said, "My preparations for examination are satisfactory but how well it ultimately goes depends on somebody who would be assisting me." Bimala Oli, a ninth grader from the same school, will be writing for him.
Relying on some one who is less knowledgeable often reduces the chances of properly expressing ones answers in the copy, Suresh said. Lack of availability of question papers and answer sheets in Braille codes has compelled the blind examinees to accept the compromise.
However, the Exam Controller Dware said he was hopeful that in the coming years visually-impaired students will have proper facilities for taking the exam.
"Until now, the government has not been able to afford Braille scripting, which is expensive. But the situation will definitely change in the coming years," said Dware.
Meanwhile, in Kohalpur, the trend of private school students taking the exam as community school student to be eligible for government scholarships for higher education has not been curbed.
Republica's Kohalpur Correspondent Tekedra Bashyal reports that hundreds of students of 10th grade of private schools have suddenly disappeared from the records, fueling suspicion that they might sit for the SLC exam as community school student.
However, School Inspector Krishna Raj Poudel deployed at the District Education Office claimed that such anomaly was not possible due to the strict changes in the SLC directives of the OCE.
"An examinee must have made 75 percent attendance in the class to be eligible for the board exam. Those who fail to do so would be automatically disqualified," he claimed.
In Ilam, Adarsha Higher Secondary School is set to make a history by deputing an all-female staff to conduct the exams.
A total of total 184 students from three different private schools are appearing in the exam at the centre, said District Education Officer Tanka Prasad Gautam.
For the convenience of the female examinees, Sindhuli District Education Office has distributed sanitary pads to all 22 exam centers of the district. A total of 7,723 examinees are to appear in the board exam from the district.
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