BENGALURU: Primary Education and Literacy Minister, Madhu Bangarappa on Tuesday announced that a total of 6,98,624 students will be appearing for their second PUC examinations scheduled to start on March 1. Similarly there are 8,96,271 students attempting the SSLC board exams between March 25 and April 6.

Bangarappa during a press meet, emphasized that all measures have been taken to make the exams ‘student friendly’ and the department is confident that the results will be relatively better this year. Last year, the government had scrapped supplementary exams and introduced three board exams for SSLC and II PUC. The Karnataka State Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB) has identified 1,124 centres for PU examination, and 2,747 centres for SSLC examination.

“All necessary measures have been taken to curb malpractice, and strict action will be taken against those who are found indulging in malpractice. Almost all the centres are under the surveillance of CCTV cameras, inside and outside the exam halls,” the minister said.

Speaking about compulsion to attend the first exam, Bangarappa said that the board has made it mandatory for students to register for Summative Exam-1, to be eligible to appear for Exam 2 and 3. “The objective is to give a chance to the students to improve their overall performance in the exams, following which, the best score will be considered for the final results,” he added. Those students who are unable to take the first examination, only under extreme situations, will be given a second chance, on a case to case basis.

The state board has adopted a 80+20 model. 80 marks are allotted for the written exam and 20 for internal assessment. Private candidates for SSLC exams will also be given the same paper, and their marks will then be scaled up to 100 marks before the results are published.

Ragi malt in schools

Madhu Bangarappa on Tuesday announced that CM Siddaramaiah will be flagging off the inclusion of ‘ragi malt’ in midday meal scheme, on Feb 22. Government and aided school children will receive the malt through Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), thrice a week. Eggs/chikki will be given for the other two days.