Mini celebrations outside examination centres across the State were a common sight after SSLC students wrote their last paper on Friday. Parents and students were seen congratulating each other and relief was evident on their faces. This year, the board examination was conducted while the State is witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Staff at the centres, too, appeared more relaxed, while Education Department officials heaved a collective sigh of relief.

It was a memorable drive for the NWKRTC staff who ferried SSLC students from Belagavi to their villages of Bendigeri and Badas on Friday. Bus drivers A.M. Gullannanavar, M.G. Magemmanavar, and R.K. Hugar were felicitated by the students and their parents at the Bendigeri bus stand. Parents garlanded the drivers and presented them with sweets. They thanked the NWKRTC staff for ferrying their children, most of them girls, safely to the examination centres in Belagavi.

In Kodagu, students not only had to contend with the virus but also the threat of heavy rain and floods. DDPI P.S. Machado said the emergency response plan was ready considering Kodagu’s rain record. Boats and men had been kept on standby to ferry students from Kottambudi to Napoklu in case of floods. “Fortunately, no such situation surfaced,” the DDPI said.

A student with special needs who was greeted by teachers on the last day of the SSLC exam in Bengaluru on Friday.   | Photo Credit: PTI

Students, however, felt that the stress may have affected their performance. “I am relieved now as the examination is finally over. We had to wait for over three months as it was postponed because of COVID-19. Though I was at home, the uneasiness of having the exam in the near future and the uncertainty will always haunt me,” said a student at an exam centre at K.R. Puram in Bengaluru.

Others felt the long break helped them prepare more thoroughly. Nitin Kumar V., who wrote the exam at Bagalagunte, Bengaluru, said, “I cannot tell you how happy and relieved I am as I need not revise again. I am now looking forward to joining a good college,” he said.

Parents said that for the most part, they were impressed with the arrangements made. Sandhya A.S., who was waiting for her daughter outside a centre, said she was initially sceptical of the level of preparedness on part of the authorities and was hesitant to send her daughter for the examination. “However, after the first day I saw all the precautions that were put in place. But the fear was always there in the corner of my mind,” she said.