Odishatv Bureau

Bhubaneswar: Setting aside all speculation over the new format of question papers, lakhs of matric students across the State have successfully attended the test today. Coming out of the centers, many students expressed pleasure over the newly introduced question cum answer booklet. Students in many parts said they were not unnerved as they had already given pre-board examination as per the new format. The students appeared for Modern Indian Language (MIL) paper today. “The new question cum answer booklet has not posed any hindrance for us today. Enough space provided in the booklet helped us in completing the answers within scheduled time”, a student from Balasore said.

“I interacted with some of the students over the new format of question-cum-answer booklet to which they expressed happiness. So I think the new system is successfully implemented”, School and Mass Education secretary Usha Padhi said.

The matriculation examination, which traditionally plays a defining role in shaping a student’s career in Odisha, commenced Monday. As anxious parents saw them off at the school gates, students scampered into examination centres to write the most important test in their career. The Board of Secondary Education along with the school and mass education department had made elaborate arrangements for nearly 6 lakh students who appeared in the examination.

For the first time, the Board has changed the rules allowing students in a majority of schools to appear the tests in their own alma maters.

In 2012, the matriculation examination had claimed nearly 12 young lives, as the ill-fated students were killed in road accidents while commuting to their examination centres. By jettisoning its intransigence on the examination centres, the school and mass education department has heralded relief to lakhs of students who otherwise had to commute to a new centre within a 10-km radius.

Despite the elaborate preparations, nearly 250 students in Anandpur area of Keonjhar district received a rude jolt when they could not appear the examination due to non-receipt of admit cards.

It is not clear yet how the Board will address the travails of the Keonjhar students whose careers run the risk of being endangered by the folly of a few officials. It’s also incomprehensible as to why the authorities of these schools or the parents of the students did not earlier inform the district-level officials about the non-receipt of the admit cards.

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