Mysuru:  The Secondary School Leaving Certificate examination commonly called SSLC exams began at 135 examination centres in Mysuru district and 51 centres within city limits this morning. The First Language papers passed off smoothly without any untoward incident. On their part, students too were in a happy mood as the Kannada question paper was easy.

Today over 10 percent of the students were absent, Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI) Mamatha told SOM. In all, 36,357 students wrote the exams with 1,524 absentees.

This time, all the centres were monitored through CCTV cameras. Even the process of taking out question papers from the District Treasury and transporting them to the respective exam centres was videographed.

Last year, only about 15% of the centres were covered by CCTV cameras. But this time, the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) that conducts the examinations has ensured 100% coverage. The rooms where answer papers will be stored after the examination also have CCTV cameras. There were four mobile squads in Mysuru in addition to one squad officer at each centre to ensure that the examination is malpractice-free.

There were 66 observers all over the district and 135 officers have been appointed as Chief Examination Superintendents. There were 34 Deputy Examination Superintendents and 135 custodians of question papers.

Police personnel will be deployed at every exam centre and Section 144 was imposed 200 metres around the exam centres. All officials involved in the conduct of the examination carried ID cards and those stationed at the exam centres, other than the centre chief, were barred from using their mobile phones. Students were randomly assigned to centres to ensure they don’t write the examination in their own school.

In Mysuru, these are the evaluation centres – Vijaya Vittala School, Mathrumandali School, Gnanaganga School, Sadvidya School and Chinmaya School. After the examinations, the answer scripts will be stored at NTMS School that has been converted into a strong room.

This year, for the first time, the process of registration for the examination was simplified by using the Student Achievement Tracking System. Instead of the usual hassle of filling up OMR sheets with student details, information was taken through this system. Hall tickets were also not printed and sent from the Board to the schools. Schools could instead access hall tickets online and print them by logging in through their IDs.

The exams conclude on April 6.