Certain “unhealthy trends” seen in providing exam assistance such as services of scribes: General Education Minister V. Sivankutty

Attempts to secure such facilities for ineligible students will only prove harmful to the children, says Minister

The General Education department views very seriously the attempts made to secure special assistance/concessions meant for differently abled children sitting for the SSLC examinations for ineligible students, General Education Minister V. Sivankutty said here on Friday.

The department has taken notice of the “unhealthy trend.” While the State government is committed to providing all assistance to students needing special consideration, attempts to secure such facilities for ineligible students would only prove harmful to the children, the Minister said while announcing the 2025 SSLC exam schedules here.

The General Education department views the issue seriously and persons who issue certificates to ineligible students so that they can avail the assistance are also accountable, he said.

According to Mr. Sivankutty, there has been a huge jump in the number of students availing assistance in the recent years. In the March 2020 SSLC exams, 13,294 students had availed of the facility. In 2024, the number had risen to 26,518, the Minister said. The year-wise break up is as follows: March 2020 (13,294), March 2021 (13,566), March 2022 (17,534), March 2023 (21,452), and March 2024 (26,518).

The assistance provided to differently abled students in 21 categories (mentioned in the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act) include services of scribes and interpreters, additional time, exemption from questions involving graphs and diagrams, 25% of the scored marks as grace marks.

Of the 26,518 students who availed of these facilities in the 2024 SSLC exams, 20,272 were in the learning disability, special learning disability and borderline intelligence categories. In previous years also, the majority numbers were from these categories. The assistance for exams is provided on the basis of a certificate issued by the Medical Board, and the annexures that are part of a set of guidelines issued by the Ministry of Education, Government of India.

Data for the past five years show that Malappuram has the highest number of candidates availing the assistance, and Pathanamthitta, the lowest, according to the Minister.

Published - November 01, 2024 09:12 pm IST