After protests, Odisha Board to hold Class 10 exams in offline mode from July 10

School and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash said the offline examination will begin from July 30 and continue till August 5

Published on: Jul 2, 2021, 14:15:47 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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Days after hundreds of students and their guardians protested outside their respective schools in Balasore, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri and other parts of Odisha against the Class 10 evaluation by the Board of Secondary Education (BSE), the government has decided to conduct special board examinations for the grade in offline mode from July 30.

School and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash said the offline examination will begin from July 30 and continue till August 5. Earlier, the BSE had announced that the interested candidates can fill up online forms between July 5 and July 14. It said students won’t have to pay any fee for appearing for the exam.

Dash said the examination will be based on the reduced syllabus. “We assure the students that BSE will take appropriate measures to publish the results of the special offline exams within 15 days. Students will not face any problems in admissions to higher secondary classes,” said Dash. He said that the examinations will be held under strict observance of Covid-19 protocols.

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Following cancellation of the high school certificate examination this year due to Covid, the BSE announced the results on June 25 after taking into account the results of Class 9 and periodic tests of Class 10. It was for the first time that the results were published without the conduct of the high school certificate (HSC) exam. Around 98% students cleared the exam this year.

The results triggered state-wide demonstration with several students and their parents alleging discrepancy. Many parents alleged that while their children did very well in exams, they were awarded fewer marks by the BSE. “My son scored 95% marks in school tests, but he got only 60% in the final board exams,” alleged a parent.

However, BSE president Ramashish Hazra denied irregularities in the assessments, saying noted educationists and academicians were consulted and the BSE prepared the guidelines after observing modalities adopted by other states.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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