The Office of the Controller of Examinations is introducing audio notice board service to inform the exam centres about errors or changes in question papers of the School Leaving Certificate  examinations from this year.

The voice mailbox service can be accessed by dialling a toll free number 161-801-661-2146 where callers will receive notifications regarding the question papers. The OCE has formed an expert team to update about the changes, if there are any, during the examination hours.  

The service was set up as the OCE in the past had come across the problem of relaying information about the changes in question papers to all exam centres across the country in time.

The audio notice board service, according to the OCE officials, will establish communications between the expert team and the exam superintendents which will help in taking prompt corrective action if there are any error in question papers.

The SLC exams is set to begin from March 20 in 1,836 examination centres across the country. A total of 566,085 students are registered to sitt for the exams. The number, however, is likely to go down as the students with the double registration and those not meeting the minimum attendance of 70 percent will be barred from taking the test. The government while phasing out sent-up examinations, two years ago, had made it mandatory for a student to have at least 70 percent attendance to be eligible for the SLC examinations.

Over 53,000 staffs including superintendents, invigilators, helpers and police personnel will be mobilised in the nine-day exam duration that will conclude on March 28.

According Bishnu Bahadur Dware, the examination controller, the OCE has also formulated code of conduct to ensure free and fair examinations.

The 35 point code of conduct will be applicable to all the stakeholders, including the examinees, examiners and the parents and guardian of the students.

Those who have been found adopting unfair means to pass the test or those breaching the examination norms could face a maximum of six months jail term or Rs 100,000 fine, or both.

Similarly, the parents or guardian who are found encouraging or helping their wards in flouting the examination codes, and the teachers, officials and security personnel not abiding by the existing rules would face legal action under the Public Offence Act.

“We have also formed a high level monitoring team led by joint secretaries with full authority to regulate the examinations,” Dware said, addressing a press meet organised by Education Journalist Network in the Capital on Wednesday.

The OCE has already dispatched required answer sheets and questions paper of 56 subjects in the police beats close to the examination centres across the country.

source: the kathmandu post,12 march 2014