SSLC Exams in Karnataka to be held in July third week: Suresh Kumar confirms; details here
Bengaluru, Jun 4: The Karnataka government on Friday announced that the SSLC or 10th standard examinations will be held in July third week while cancelling the second year pre-university course (PUC) exams this year in view of the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The PUC second year students will be promoted to the next level and the grading will be based on their performance in the first PUC exam.
"The SSLC exam will have one multi-choice question paper for mathematics, science and social science and one more question paper for languages," Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar told reporters.
The multi-choice question paper bearing 40 marks will be easy and straight and there will not be any indirect questions, he said.
Kumar said there will be a supplementary examination for those students who are affected by the COVID-19.
The exam results will be out by August.
The exams will be conducted in 6,000 centres, which is double last year, the Minister said, adding, each room will have 10 to 12 students.
There will be a gap of six feet between students.
The decision to hold the SSLC exam was taken as it was crucial for students to opt for the streams of their choice such as science, commerce and arts.
Regarding the second PUC examination, the minister said, "We are not holding the PUC exam. The grading will be based on their performance at the district level assessment in the first pre-university examination".
He also said that aggrieved students who are not happy with the grading system can take up the examination, the dates of which would be notified later.
The minister clarified that he was satisfied with the decision.
In view of the prevailing situation, whatever decision that was in the best interest of the students has been taken.
The decision was arrived at after wide consultation with various stakeholders such as academics, educationists, teachers, officials and parents.
The examination board will issue detailed guidelines for grading the students of second PUC students whereas a model question paper for SSLC students will be released on the board website and handed over to the district and block education officers to supply them to the schools for reference.
The SSLC students arriving for examination will be given N-95 masks and there will be hand sanitisers at the entrance of the examination halls.
Last year, Karnataka successfully conducted the SSLC and PUC examinations amid the COVID-19 scare.
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Rupee strengthens past 90/USD level in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee appreciated 24 paise to 89.96 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday, supported by corporate dollar inflows and easing crude oil prices.
Forex traders said the gain in the USD/INR pair follows the rupee’s string of record lows in recent weeks on likely intervention from the Reserve Bank of India.
Moreover, crude oil prices hovering around USD 59 per barrel level supported market sentiment.
ALSO READ:Rupee trades in narrow range against US dollar in early trade
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.19 against the US dollar, then gained some ground and touched 89.96 against the US dollar, registering a gain of 24 paise over its previous close.
In initial trade it also touched 90.22 against the American currency. On Thursday, the rupee appreciated 18 paise against the US dollar to close at 90.20 against the greenback.
The rupee sank to a fresh record low, breaching the 91-a-dollar mark for the first time on Tuesday.
"Since the speculators are out of the market the buying of US dollar syndrome has come down a bit though intra-day we could see spikes," said Anil Kumar Bhansali Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
The US CPI came lower than expected but was also due to non-collection of sufficient data and therefore, the next month’s CPI becomes more important, Bhansali said, adding that "Rupee remains in a range of 90-90.50".
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent higher at 98.46.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 0.27 per cent at USD 59.66 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex climbed 375.98 points to 84,857.79, while the Nifty was up 110.60 points to 25,934.15.
Foreign Institutional Investors purchased equities worth Rs 595.78 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Sanjeev Sanyal on Thursday said he is not concerned about the rupee at all, arguing that even China and Japan witnessed exchange rate weaknesses during their high growth phases.
Speaking at 'Times Network's India Economic Conclave 2025', Sanyal said since the 90s, the rupee has mostly been allowed to find its own level, but the RBI uses its reserves to intervene in either direction to stop excessive volatility.
"I am not concerned about the rupee at all... Let me say that the rupee and its current weakness should not be necessarily conflated with some economic worry, because historically, if you go over time, you will see that economies that are in their high growth phase very often go through a phase of exchange rate weakness," he said.
