Karnataka plans to introduce two supplementary exams for SSLC

Confirming this to The Indian Express, principal secretary for school education and literacy, Ritesh Kumar Singh said, “The proposal to introduce two supplementary examinations for SSLC students is mooted, but we are planning to introduce it from the next academic year. It is not right to categoriz\se a student as a failure just because he/she couldn’t clear the examination. The idea is to remove this stigma. Giving the students another opportunity to clear the examination, naturally improves the pass percentage in SSLC level and also increases the gross enrolment ratio in higher education.”

In fact, the school education department is planning to do away with the concept of ‘supplementary examination’ and allow students the choice to opt for any of the three examinations. “We do not like to call it a supplementary examination. We want to call it exam 1, 2 and 3. In fact, Karnataka state board will be way ahead of CBSE, if we were to introduce three examinations in SSLC and PUC. We want to give the choice to the students to choose, if he/she wants to take up exam 1, or 2 or 3. If the student feels he is not ready for exam 1, he can opt for the second or the third. The flexibility in allowing the student to give the choice of choosing the examination, will naturally improve the performance of the student, therefore resulting in a good pass percentage,” said Singh.

A total of 1,77,858 students failed in the main PU examination. According to the data shared by the Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board, a total of 1,58,881 students registered for the first PU supplementary examination that was scheduled between May 22 and June 2. Out of those who registered, 1,57,756 appeared for the exam and only 50,478 passed.

When KSEAB announced the opportunity of a second supplementary examination for PUC students, a whopping 1,21,179 students registered. Out of which 7253 students are those who failed before 2022, 17,966 are those who failed in the 2022 PU examination and 95,960 are those who failed in 2023 PU examination. In both the supplementary examinations, the registrations of boys outnumbered the girls.

KSEAB chairman Ramachandran R said, “We want the students to give it another shot. We cannot categorize them as failures just because they could not achieve the passing mark. We don’t want the students to lose hope in clearing the PU examination. Clearing the examination by second or third attempt at least gives them a glimmer of hope and increases the employability for the students. The registration of 1.2 lakh students for the second supplementary indicates that the students want to show their mettle and pass out in flying colors. And the question papers for the second supplementary examination are of the same standard as that of examination 1 and 2.”

He further added, “We have coordinated and informed the higher education department to accommodate those students who passed in the supplementary examination and allow them to seek delayed admission. However, as far as the third time examinations for SSLC students are concerned, we can only introduce it in the next academic year. This is because we need to prepare the bridge course and help them recover the concepts taught over two months, if they pass and seek a delayed admission.”

Meanwhile, Karnataka is also likely to introduce a centralised annual examination for class 9 and 11 for state board affiliated schools from this academic year, similar to the Gujarat and Kerala governments. If this is enforced, Karnataka will have a centralized annual examination for classes 5, 8, 9 and 11, wherein the question paper will be set by KSEAB and the evaluation is set to happen at the school and taluk level.