15k skipped exam, board seeks answer

Bhubaneswar: Days after large-scale absenteeism in Class X board exam raised eyebrows, the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) reported that nearly 15,000 students had skipped the Class IX annual exam. The board has asked district education officers (DEOs) to submit a report on the reason behind the absenteeism.
The BSE on Tuesday released the result of Class IX and Madhyama 2021-22 examination and reported that as many as 14,935 students did not turn up for the test.
Board sources said a total of 5,66,269 students had enrolled for the Class IX exam out of which 5,51,334 appeared. For the Madhyama examination, a total of 3,399 students had enrolled of which 3,270 took the exam, BSE sources said.
“The board will send the data of absent students to the respective district education officers and ask them to send a report on or before May 31 as to why these candidates did not appear for the exam even though they had been enrolled by their respective headmasters,” the BSE mentioned in a letter.
The board had said all the students who had appeared for the Class IX exam will be promoted to Class X. Students who perform poorly in the Class IX exam would be given two chances to improve their performances.
“All students who had performed poorly in the exam would be given remedial classes till May 31 and they will sit for improvement tests on June 1, 8 and 16,” an official communication from the board said.
If a candidate cannot secure desired marks in the first improvement exam, then s/he will be provided with more chances after seven more days of remedial classes. Schools will prepare questions of 20 marks and tests will be of 40 minutes duration.
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