The government has completed all preparations for the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examinations to be held from March 31 to April 11 across the nation.

According to the Office of the Controller of Examinations (OCE), a total of 615,553 students including regular, exempted and technical groups will appear for the SLC exams of 2016 at 1,943 exam centers. The letter grading system is being introduced for the first time in the history of SLC examinations in the country.

"We are now ready to hold the exams along with completion of all the preparations," said Anupam Chandra Shrestha, deputy controller of the OCE. "We have already dispatched the question papers to 72 districts," he said. "The question papers will be sent to the three districts of the Kathmandu Valley on the eve of the examinations," he added.

Out of the total examinees, 289,709 boys and 325,844 girls are taking part in the examinations this year. The number of examinees will be the highest in the Kathmandu district while the least number of students will appear from Manag district, according to the OCE. There will be 36,866 students taking examinations in Kathmandu district and only 75 students will sit for the exams in Manang district.

Officials of the OCE have urged all to cooperate with the authorities to hold the examinations in a fair and peaceful manner across the country.

"If we find malpractices including cheating in the examinations, we will take action against whoever is involved in the unfair activities as per the rules," said Shrestha. "The exam centers can be cancelled or students who are involved in cheating can be rusticated or expelled from the exams," he added.

The results of the SLC examinations will be published within three months, according to the OCE.

The government has managed to evaluate the answer sheets on the basis of letter grading system from this year. No one will be ranked as failed but they will be graded as per the quality of their performance. However, all students will not get opportunity to pursue their higher study on whatever course they want.

Though marksheets are issued with letter grading system, the answer sheets will be checked as per the traditional way of putting numerical marks as in the past. "We are unable to check copies under the letter grading system due to the huge number of students," said the OCE officials.

The European and American countries practice letter grading system while checking answer sheets.

Total Examinees: 615,553.
- Total Exam Centers: 1,943
- Superintendents: 1,943
- Deputy Superintendents: 2,978
- Invisilators: 25,556
- Helpers: 13,274
- Security Personnel: 29,145
- Total Manpower: 72,896

source: republica,15 March 2016