Mysore/Mysuru: The first day of the annual SSLC (Secondary School Leaving Certificate) exam for the academic year 2023-24 went off smoothly in the city and district this morning. A total of 40,337 students have enrolled for the exam in Mysuru district, who include 634 private students and 1,132 repeaters.

The exams were held in 132 centres spread across the district, including 42 in Mysuru city alone. On the first day today, the first language paper exam was held between 10.15 am and 1.45 pm. The students were asked to take their seat in the designated exam halls 15 minutes prior to the start of the exam, following which the question papers were distributed at 10.15 am.

The district administration had designated as many as 54 routes, including 16 in the city, for distribution of exam papers to all centres, in assigned GPS-installed vehicles this morning from the District Treasury.

All exam halls were installed with CCTV cameras and all the students were screened for any electronic gadgets, before they were allowed entry to the Hall.

The exam was held under tight security, with the city Police clamping prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Cr.PC in 200 mts. radius around all the exam centres from 6 am to 6 pm.

Also, all the photocopy shops and cyber cafes in the vicinity of the centres were ordered to shut down half an hour before the start of the exam till the exam ended. The SSLC exam will conclude on Apr.6.

Most of the students were seen accompanied by their parents or relatives to the exam hall. The parents were seen giving last minute tips to their wards ahead of the exam.

The students who appeared for the exam were offered mid-day meal at the centres after the exam ended.

The KSRTC ran a few additional trips to ferry far off students from their homes to the exam centres.

DDPI H.K. Pandu and other top officials of the Education Department visited some of the exam centres in the city and supervised the conduct of exams.