Much to the relief of students appearing for SSC public examinations, the government has decided to give them five-minute grace time for entering the examination centre.
Director of School Education T. Vijay Kumar said the exam would start at 9.30 a.m. as per schedule and students would be allowed to enter the centre till 9.35 a.m. However, he asked them to be at the centre by 8.45 a.m. to be on the safer side.
The exams, which are starting on March 16, would conclude on April 13. However, English paper-II, which was scheduled to be held on March 22, has been postponed to April 3 as the date clashes with the MLC elections.
Mr. Kumar said hall-tickets have already been sent to schools, and they can also be downloaded from www.bsetelangana.org. About 5.52 lakh students would appear for the exams from 11,023 schools, he added.
He said the exams would be held at 2,563 centres. Candidates would be allowed to take only hall-tickets, writing pads and pens.
Curbing malpractice
To avoid malpractice, the Police Department has been asked to shut down all photocopying centres around the exam centres. Students of about 340 schools that failed to gain recognition have also been allowed to appear for the exams this year keeping their future in mind, Mr. Kumar said.