The Hindu

• Results likely in May first week 
• It will be held in 645 centres across the State
• 110 centres are ‘extremely sensitive’

Bangalore, Mar 25: More than eight lakh students will write the decisive Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination starting March 31. This includes 4,57,496 boys and 3,87,347 girls.

There is a marginal increase in the numbers from last year with about 40,000 more writing the exam taking the total to 8.44 lakh students. Of this, more than two lakh students belong to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes categories.Announcing this at a press conference here on Monday, D.S. Rajanna, Director, Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board, said the exams will be conducted in 2,645 centres across the State. As many as 110 centres have been identified as “extremely sensitive” and 308 as “sensitive.” About 360 students were caught for malpractices last year. Vigilance squads have been set up at the levels of Deputy Commissioner, Chief Executive Officer, Deputy Directors and local centres. Evaluation of papers will begin from April 11, two days after the examination ends, at 196 centres with 37, 312 evaluators being part of the process. Results are expected to be out latest by May first week.

Ban orders

In an effort to curb possibilities of malpractices, Mr. Rajanna said that photocopy shops near examination centres would be shut 30 minutes before the examination begins. This is in addition to declaring the area about 200 metres from the centres as restricted zones during the time of the exam.