Second PUC exams begin in K’taka, 95.5% attendance recorded

The PUC exam will be held between March 9 and 29 at 1,109 examination centres for 726,195 students across Karnataka

The Karnataka Pre-University exams (PUC exam) began on Thursday, with 95.5% attendance recorded across the state.

The Karnataka Pre-University exams (PUC exam) began on Thursday, with 95.5% attendance recorded across the state. (REUTERS)

Of the 533,797 students, 510,026 attended the exam on the first day, while 23,771 were absent, according to the state education department data.

The PUC exam will be held between March 9 and 29 at 1,109 examination centres for 726,195 students across the state.

Two cases of malpractice were reported, one in Belagavi and another in Yadgir, according to the education department.

According to the education department, 363,000 boys and 362,000 girls are appearing for the examinations. Of the total, 70,589 are repeaters. More than 1,000 assistant invigilators, 64 district squads, 525 taluk squads and 2,373 special squad members have been deputed for inspections across the state, officials close to developments said.

Prohibitory orders are in place in the 200-meter surrounding areas of the examination centres and are being monitored by CCTV cameras, they added.

Karnataka education minister BC Nagesh had earlier warned that students wearing the hijab would not be allowed to appear for the examinations.

“Just like last year, students must wear the uniform and write the examination. Students wearing the hijab will not be allowed to write the exam. Rules have to be followed. The educational institutions and the government are acting, as per the set rules,” Nagesh had said.

On Thursday, a student at Malleshwaram Pre-University College in Bengaluru, who entered the examination hall wearing a hijab, was asked to remove it before appearing for the exam. Otherwise, the exams were held peacefully across the state amid the hijab ban, authorities said.

Last week, the Supreme Court turned down a plea for an immediate listing of pleas, seeking a directive to government institutions in Karnataka to allow students to appear for examinations wearing the hijab.

“I will create a bench,” said a bench led by chief justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud after an advocate sought an urgent hearing of the petition on the ground that the girls were on the verge of losing another academic year as the examinations were to commence from March 9 in government schools which didn’t permit hijab.

On March 15 2022, a three-judge bench comprising chief justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, justice Krishna S Dixit and justice JM Khazi of the Karnataka high court delivered a 129-page verdict in which they ruled that the hijab was not an “essential religious practice”, paving way for the ban on hijab in pre-university colleges in the state.

The verdict came after eight Muslim students, stopped from entering class wearing the hijab, approached the court.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Congress withdrew the two-hour-long bandh it had called on Thursday as part of its fight against alleged corruption by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) due to the exams.

(With inputs from agencies.)