BENGALURU: Many students and teachers said the first paper of the SSLC exams was a breeze, as many questions were similar to the model question paper they had used for practice.
“We were worried students would come under time pressure, but it wasn’t an issue,” said Parthasarathy Krishna Iyer, principal, Ganga international School. “Since, there were 120 questions which had to be answered in 180 minutes, students had only 1.5 minutes to work out the answer for each question. However, many students even completed exams much ahead of the final bell.”
Iyer, however, said the current format does not test writing skills of students.
Manu Anoop, principal, Lady Wellington School in JP Nagar, Bengaluru, said students were happy with the new format — multiplechoice using OMR sheets. “Most students found all the sections easy. Some students told us they found the science and social science section far easier than mathematics. It depends on individual students, but the consensus is that the paper was easy,” she said.
She said that after Monday’s exam, students were looking forward to taking the next paper scheduled for Thursday (July 22). “They are filled with a certain sense of confidence after the first paper,” she said.
However, parents at examination centres had mixed reactions to the new format and the decision to conduct the examinations. While standard operating procedures were followed strictly inside school campuses, many struggled to ensure social distancing and prevent crowding outside exam centres despite the help of police officers.
“While I am happy that the exam is being held, I am worried about the social distancing part. My child has been standing outside the centre with other students for almost an hour now. There’s no distance between the students,” said Waheeda, a parent outside a government high school in East Bengaluru.
A techie couple said they feel their daughter could have done much better with the description paper. “She was preparing for it for a year and the MCQ format does not do justice to her preparation. Though we are disappointed, we understand that some exams are better than no exam,” they said.
Another parent at an examination centre in Malleswaram said he was apprehensive about sending his son to the exam as he is not vaccinated. “His schoolteachers persuaded us to send him. Otherwise, we have not let him step out for a long time now,” he said.
