As many as 740 students from Varthur and 20 neighbouring villages have decided to boycott the SSLC examination this year.
This follows the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board’s (KSEEB) decision to shift the examination centre from Varthur High School to a private school. Parents of these students point out that the new exam centre is close to a bar, a cinema hall and a burial ground. Besides, the centre is 1.5 kilometres away from the bus stop and the students have to reach there by walk.
Parents said the Government High School at Varthur used to be the examination centre for the last sixty years but this year the board took the ‘Tuglak-style’ decision without even considering the pros and cons of changing the exam centre. They added that the government school had 40 rooms and could easily accommodate all the students but a private school that came under fire for violating the medium of instruction condition has been selected for reasons better known to the KSEEB officials.
In February when the villagers learnt about the change of exam centre, they wrote a letter not to take such decision unilaterally, but it was ignored. Yet the hall tickets were issued to them in which the exam centre was not the Varthur High School but the private school close to cinema hall and bar. Nearly 500 students refused to accept the hall ticket. Following KSEEB’s persuasion, 280 of them accepted the hall ticket. Yet the movement did not die.
On Wednesday, some parents met the Lokayukta and Upalokayukta and complained to them about the issue. When contacted, the Upalokayukta Justice G Patri Basavanna Goud confirmed that some parents from Varthur had approached him. “KSEEB Director Rajanna has assured me that he will look into the matter,” he said.