SSLC exams begin in Karnataka amid COVID concerns
Bengaluru: The two-day Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) or class 10 exams began across the state on Monday, amid COVID-19 concerns.
As many as 8.76 lakh students have registered for the examination.
This is for the second consecutive year that the Department of Primary and Secondary Education is conducting the SSLC examinations amid the pandemic.
Due to COVID-19 situation, for the first time, the examinations have been reduced from six days to two days, with students writing one paper for three subjects per day.
On Monday, students are writing the exam for core subjects mathematics, science and social science, while on July 22 there will be exams for languages such as Kannada, English, Hindi, Sanskrit.
The department this year has increased the number of examination centres and teachers on duty, Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board officials have said, adding that as many as 1.19 lakh staff have been deployed for 73,064 exam halls in 4,885 centres across the state.
Special arrangements have been made for 23 students who have tested positive for COVID-19, to write the exams at the COVID Care Centres in their respective districts.
All the necessary arrangementshave been made at the exam centres keeping the pandemic situation in mind, wherein only 12 students, one per bench, will be seated in a classroom and those with symptoms will be allowed to take the exam in a separate room, officials said.
All the staff involved in examination duty have received at least one dose of vaccination, the official added.
The exam will be in the form of multiple-choice questions and the students will have to mark the right answers on the Optical Mark Reading (OMR) sheet given to them.
Wishing all the students appearing for SSLC exams good luck, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa in a tweet said, "I urge my young friends to relax and focus on exams. I assure parents that our government has made all arrangements to ensure exams are held safely."
Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar too in a tweet assured parents that the exam centres are safe for students and the government has taken all necessary measures to conduct the exams in a safe environment.
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
