Mangaluru (TNN): As many as 29,572 candidates from the district are all set to appear for the SSLC examination that will commence on March 31, said Venkatesh Nayak, SSLC nodal officer for Dakshina Kannada.

Nayak told STOI that the Bantwal BEO limits have the highest number of candidates (5,687), followed by Mangaluru South (5,184). Of the total candidates, 867 of them are repeaters/private candidates. As many as 29,712 candidates, including 1,073 private candidates/repeaters, had appeared for the examination in the district in 2021-22.

The department of public instruction has been devising strategies to improve the district’s performance in the SSLC examination this year.

The SSLC preparatory examination, that is currently underway, will end on March 6. The results of the preparatory exam will be announced within a few days of its completion. “The preparatory exam results will be reviewed at every school. A DPI team, comprising district officials, will visit the underperforming school, if any, and hold meetings with the teachers and students to improve performance in the exam,” said Nayak.

“Each school has been conducting a one-hour class in the morning and evening every day for students whose performance is below average. Teachers visit the houses of students to check if they are absent from the class due to exam fear. Besides, the schools are holding regular PTA meetings. Last year, the Dakshina Kannada district recorded 85.63 pass percentage in SSLC exams. We hope to improve the pass percentage this year,” said Nayak.

He also added that a meeting of the officials of the Integrated Tribal Development Project, members of the Koraga community and DPI officials was held on Friday. “The ITDP and Koraga community members have requested us to provide academic help to 10 Koraga students appearing for the SSLC examination this year,” he said.