ENS

Bangalore, Mar 31: All preparations are in place for the SSLC exams that kick off on Monday. About 8,44,843 students will be appearing all over the state at 2,645 centres.

Of them, 4,57,496 are boys and 3,87,347 are girls. Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board Director D S Rajanna said that they had made elaborate preparations to tackle malpractice this year.

All the spare question papers will be sealed within the first hour of the exam to avoid those papers being leaked. Photocopying centres around the centres will be closed half an hour prior to the exam and will stay closed for the duration of the exam.

Invigilators and non staff personnel will be issued identity cards. No mobiles will be allowed inside the exam hall. About 309 centres have been identified as sensitive and another 110 centres have been identified as highly-sensitive centres. These centres will be monitored using video surveillance equipment.

To prevent students from sitting on the floor and writing exams, desks and chairs have been procured at a total cost of Rs 7 lakh.Rajanna has warned students not to be taken in by hoax calls of paper availability. People can register complaints about hoax calls at 080 2334 9434.

Hall tickets issued: The 18 students, including those from Padmavati Montessori School, have been issued their hall tickets.Padmavathi Montessori School principal Vivek Vardhan had recently committed suicide after he was unable to obtain hall tickets for his students after taking money from them.