After several of its attempts to conduct the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exams in a free and fair manner failed to yield the desired results, the Office of the Controller of Examinations (OCE) has announced to award centres in each district that maintain decent exam environment.

Addressing a press meet in the Capital on Saturday, Education Minister Dina Nath Sharma said the government has a long-run plan to make the SLC exams disciplined. The minister also underscored the need for amending the Education Act-1972 to address the agitating teachers’ demands.

Exam Controller Dilli Rimal said 76 new examination centres have been added this year to conduct the exams. Some 528,357 students are attending the examinations this year including 82,283 exempted students. Similarly, 56,000 staff members have been deployed to conduct the exams. As per the Education Act, one adopting unfair means and breaching the exam code can be jailed for six months or fined up to Rs 100,000 or both. The OCE has allocated 1,748 centres for SLC examination scheduled to begin from March 20. Last year, then Education Minister Ganga Lal Tuladhar had decided to lodge public offence cases against parents who encouraged their wards to adopt unfair means in the exams, while teachers, officials and security personnel involved in such practices would be booked. Some 1,672 examination centres were fixed for 496,243 students last time. Meanwhile, over 500 people including exam superintendents, invigilators and students were arrested and expelled from various exam centres across the country within eight days of the examination for their involvement in irregularities in 2011.

source: The Kathmandu Post, 2 March 2012