Student returnees to answer SSC exams separately: GBSHSE

PANAJI: The Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GBSHSE) on Sunday released the revised seating arrangement for students who will appear for the Class X public examinations, scheduled to be held from May 21.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant said that the SSC exam would be conducted in 2,460 classrooms across the state and said that people should not try to scare students unnecessarily.
“Most of the people are of the opinion that exams should be conducted,” he said.
As per the new seating arrangement, students, who had left Goa and will be returning to answer the exams, will be seated separately from other students, as a precautionary measure, Goa board chairman Ramkrishna Samant said.
To maintain social distancing, the number of exam sub-centres have been increased and only between 10 and 13 students will be seated in each classroom.
The board has roped in more teachers, including higher secondary school teachers, to oversee the conduct of the exams but fewer students will be accommodated per examination hall.
Along the border areas of Goa, many students from areas of Maharashtra like Banda are enrolled in Goa schools. These Class X students will cross the border each day to answer the board exams, and separate seating arrangements have been made for these students. 41 of such students will be entering Goa from the Satarda entry point, 24 from Ibrampur, Hankane, and 30 from Patradevi, as per the information released by the board.
In addition to this, under the Sakhali exam centre, there are 24 students who have relocated outside Goa and will return to the state to answer the Class X exam. This is also the case with three other students under the Valpoi centre.
Similarly, information from the board shows that one student of a Sanguem school who had been stranded during the lockdown at Hubballi in Karnataka, will be seated separately in a classroom in a Mollem institute.
Two each of such stranded students will be answering the exams under the Margao, Colva and Curtorim sub-centres, and one under Verna sub-centre.
In the case of children with special needs who will be answering Class X exam from across Goa, for those who have requested for a reader or writer, even fewer students will be accommodated in each class to maintain social distancing, as per the revised seating arrangement.