Matric exam absenteeism: DEO, BEO to find out why students skipped exams, says Minister

Odisha school and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash on Monday said that the DEOs and BEOs have been entrusted with the task to find out the reason why a large number of students remained absent in the matriculation examinations this year.

While talking to media, the State education minister informed that no application fee was charged from students this year. The government had announced waiver of fee in view of the Covid situation. 

He further said that as the students of Class VIII got were promoted to Class 10, mandatory form fill-up for matriculation examinations were done without charging any fee. 

However, as the confusion still looms over why the students didn’t appear for the exams, a probe has been ordered to find out the reason, the Minister added.

“This year, the Odisha government paid the form fill-up fee for the Matric students to the Board in view of the Covid situation. Therefore, form fill-up of all candidates were done to ensure none is missed otherwise, it could have raised questions,” said Dash. 

Dash added, “While the examinations were underway, it was found that many of the students were absent. Following that, the DEOs and BEOs were instructed to find the whereabouts of the absentees and learn about the circumstances under which they abstained from appearing in the exams. We are analysing all aspects to learn everything in detail, and can further inform about the matter after getting the detailed report.”