Karnataka: SSLC toppers beat pandemic blues

MANGALURU: For many SSLC students especially in rural areas, internet connectivity was an issue.
Despite this, the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi had 20 toppers who scored a perfect score amid the lockdown and pandemic blues. Some battled financial crises at home. These students quickly got themselves familiarised with Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) with Optical Mark Recognition (OMR).
It was indeed a big challenge, says Venessa Sharina D’Souza, a student of Kumaraswamy English Medium High School, Subrahmanya.
Venessa, daughter of businessman Valerian D’Souza and homemaker Theresa D’Souza said, “It is a realization of one year’s efforts and dreams. I am speechless. Our school helped us a lot to continue studies without a break even during the lockdown. Many students from interior places in Subrahmanya have no internet connectivity at their homes. Hence, our school management decided to send video clips of classes on Whatsapp. Teachers guided us thoroughly on how to face the MCQ exam in a short period,” Venessa, who wants to pursue medical education, told TOI.
‘Teachers helped me a lot’
“Despite financial difficulties, I managed to top because of the support of my parents and teachers. We are from a lower middleclass family. The school provided a fee concession. My teachers Preethesh Shetty and Santhosh Shetty coached me for the exams. When the government changed the examination pattern suddenly, we found it difficult initially, but practise helped me to perform well,” said Anushree Shetty, a topper from VKR Acharya Memorial English Medium School, Kundapur. She is the daughter of homemaker Sulochana and Babu Shetty from the construction industry.
Keerthana Shenoy from Canara High School, Urva, Mangaluru, said, “Along with hard work, it was about smart work this time and mere mugging up lessons will not help. Before the lockdown, our preparatory exams were held and we then got a break. But I did not give up and continued to study everyday while also attending Sanskrit and music classes. Our teachers handled classes well, though they were new to the system. They used to support us by sending a lot of study material in the form of PDFs,” she said. She is the daughter of consultant civil engineer Gurudutt Shenoy and homemaker Priya Shenoy.
Abhishek Jayanth Holla, from Government High School, Valakad, Udupi said, MCQ was the best option for conducting the exams amid pandemic. “We felt we lacked in preparations because of the change in the examination pattern at the last minute. Our teachers helped us by sharing model question papers on Google Forms,” said Abhishek, son of account S Jayanth Holla and homemaker Aruna.
In Udupi 13,320 regular students, 203 repeaters, 183 private registration students and 650 private registration repeaters have passed. As many as 1,339 students passed with A+ grades including 389 from government schools, 195 from aided schools and 755 from unaided schools. In Dakshina Kannada, 32,657 students appeared and cleared the exams.