SSLC students demand whitener in exam hall

Several students, appearing for the SSLC examination, have demanded to make a whitener available in the examination hall to correct the answers in the optical mark reader (OMR) sheets.

They said this is for the first time that they are appearing for the examination using OMR sheets. “We are not asking the authorities to allow us to carry whitener. But we are requesting them to make it available with the invigilator in the examination hall,” a student said.

Another student said, “When we were writing descriptive type answers, there were options to answer a few questions at the end if we were confused about the answers. As we are attempting OMR for the first time, we need options to correct our answers using the whitener.”

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Dr Supreeth B R, principal of Oxford Independent PU College, Bengaluru, said, “I feel the government should consider this request because there will be a lot of confusion among students while answering on the OMR sheet. If they feel they have marked the wrong answer, then they should be allowed to correct it using a whitener.”

Shashi Kumar D, general secretary of the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, said, “The evaluation will be difficult if students use whitener as the OMR reader machine will not read the answers even if there is a small change. Moreover, the usage of whitener is banned for children.”

However, the officials of the Primary and Secondary Education Department revealed that they have not received any demand from the students or parents in this regard.

This year, 8,76,581 students registered for the SSLC examinations on July 19 and 22. For the first time, the examination has been reduced to two days and the students have to attempt Multiple Choice Questions in the OMR sheet.