First day of SEE exams held peacefully

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, April.1 : The Secondary Education Examination (SEE) began on Friday and according to the Office of the Controller of Examinations (OCE), Grade 10, the first day was very peaceful and dignified.

"The first day went without a hitch and the examinations were held in a very disciplined manner," said Loknath Acharya, deputy controller of examinations at the OCE.

A total of 485,396 students, including 242,712 females and 242,674 males, appeared in the examinations from 12,083 community and private schools.

Of the total students taking the secondary examinations this year, 15,461 students are from the technical stream. 55 students with visual impairments also appeared in the nationally-prominent examination and 14 students appeared from a single examination centre in Japan too. As per the OCE, 77,992 personnel, which included examination centre superintendents, supervisors, assistants and security officers, were deployed at all the 2,037 examination centres of the country to ensure there were no unpleasant occurrences.

According to our Dadeldhura correspondent, over 2,000 students took part in the SEE exams from the district's 12 centres on the first day without any trouble or disturbance. Of the nine districts of the Sudurpashchim Province, Dadeldhura saw the least number of students participating in the SEE.

Over 5,000 students participated in the test from Dhading district without any issue. In Nawalpur (Nawalparasi East), a person mourning the loss of a parents (Kiriyaputri) also gave SEE.

However, there was an incident at an examination centre in Bara where someone attempted to leak the question paper. "But the police responded immediately and prevented the questions from getting out," Acharya said. 

"It is not clear who tried to leak the questions. An investigation is being carried out."

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Similarly, an Assistant Sub Inspector of Police stationed to guard an examination centre in Mahottari died. After his health suddenly failed, he was rushed to the Provincial Hospital in Janakpur where he died while receiving treatment.

"Overall, the first day went better than expected," Acharya informed, adding that the OCE had held intensive preparations with provincial and district-level authorities and would be able to hold the entire 13-day exam.

SEE is the examination given by students to graduate from the 10th grade to the 11th. It succeeded the previous School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination in 2016 after the government restructured the education system and declared grade 12, and not grade 10, to be the end of the school level.

SLC started in Nepal in 1934 and the Durbar High School, which was established to provide English education to the children of the ruling Rana oligarchy, was the first school to have students appear it.

Up until a few decades ago, SLC was considered a crucial step that made or broke students' educational and professional future. That is why it used to be called the 'Iron Gate'.