JOIN USCompared with last year, fewer students will write the SSLC examinations scheduled to begin on April 2, 2012.
The number of students appearing for the annual board examination has dropped by as much as 16,000, according to D Venkateshaiah, Director (Exams) of the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB).
In 2011, as many as 8.55 lakh students had registered for the SSLC examination. Their number has come down to 8.39 lakh this year. The decline, Venkateshaiah insists, is mainly because of two reasons. First, the enrolment rate is on the decline because of “slower” birth rate. Second, more and more students now opt for schools affiliated to CBSE and ICSE.
But this analysis may not be fully correct. The first reason cited by the KSEEB official does not explain the rising population levels. The school enrolment rate has actually gone up significantly as enunciated by reports released from time to time.
The second reason appears more apt. With parents scrambling to admit their wards to good-quality English-medium schools, institutions offering the state syllabus are not quite in demand.
Surprisingly, this decline in the number of examinees was missing in 2011 when more students had registered for the SSLC exam compared with 2010. According to KSEEB, 8.20 lakh students had applied for the SSLC exam in 2010. Their number shot up by 35,000 the next year as the figures show.
Hassle-free exam
The KSEEB has geared up to conduct a hassle-free exam at 3,002 centres across Karnataka. The number of centres has risen by 51 compared with 2011 when the exam was conducted at 2,951 places.
The number of centres went up because fewer students have been allotted to one centre, Venkateshaiah explained. Now, only a maximum of 300 students will write the exam at one centre, unlike last year when the figure stood at 400. The hall tickets will be dispatched next month.