The School Leaving Certificate Examination examinations, which began on March 20, concluded on Thursday.

This year, 445,974 and 45,974 examinees took the test under regular and exempted categories, respectively. Only 105 students—the lowest among all districts—sat the exams from Manang, while the highest number of students—34,014— took the test from Kathmandu district, according to the Office of the Controller of Examinations (OCE). Altogether 1,748 examination centres—422 in Eastern, 509 in Central, 373 in Western, 269 in Mid-Western, and 175 in Far-Western regions—had been arranged for conducting the ten-day exams. A team led by a joint secretary at the Ministry of Education was deployed in each of the 14 zones, while an examination coordination committee was formed in each district with a view to maintaining discipline and curbing irregularities during the exams.

Despite the tough measures in place, irregularities were rampant this year as well. Though OCE is yet to accumulate the data on the cases of irregularities, dozens of exam superintendents and invigilators, and hundreds of students were found defying exam rules.

source: The Kathmandu Post, 29 March 2012