Students at an SSC examination centre at Zilla Parishad High School in Mallapur, Hyderabad, on Monday.
| Photo Credit: G. RAMAKRISHNA
The Secondary School Certificate examinations started on a positive note on Monday, with most students reaching their centres in time.
Lifting the earlier rule that candidates will not be allowed into the centre if they are late by a minute, the State government recently announced a grace time of up to five minutes for the students. No incident of late comers being denied entry to the centres was reported on the first day.
A total of 2,676 centres across the State hosted the examination for over 5.08 lakh students. The exam duration was three hours—9.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.—for first-language paper, with first-language composite paper getting 20 minutes extra.
The Board of Secondary Education employed 30,000 invigilators and 144 flying squad teams to ensure the examinations are conducted fairly.
Two boys miss exam after road mishap
Two Class-10 students from Manopad mandal in Jogulamba Gadwal district missed their examination after they met with a road mishap.
Four boys riding two motorcycles lost control of their vehicles and fell while on their way from Pothulapadu village to their examination centre in the mandal headquarters town. Two of them sustained minor injuries but made it to the centre. The two others, however, were shifted to Kurnool for treatment.
Police help student reach exam hall
A Class-10 student made it to the examination centre just in time, thanks to a little help from the Matwada police in Warangal. According to the police, the girl reached the wrong centre at Bank Colony. It was just five minutes before the closing of the centre when the Inspector gave her a ride in his official vehicle to the centre on Pathak Mahal Street.
TSRTC extends free service
The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation gave free bus rides to the candidates. While girls availed of the free rides under the State’s Mahalakshmi scheme, boys produced their old bus passes and hall tickets for free rides.
Wishing the students all the best in their examinations, TSRTC managing director V.C. Sajjanar took to X saying the service will continue till the end of the examinations on April 2. Later, he posted a picture of a bus full of students showing their hall tickets in Malakpet and called it the “snapshot of the day”.
