School exams conducted smoothly after months of Kashmir unrest

Srinagar: Tens of thousands of students sat for their Class 12 annual exams on Monday after four months of unrest during which schools remained shut across the Kashmir Valley. Officials said nearly 95 per cent of 45,000 students appeared on the first day of the examinations across 484 centres in the valley. "The Class 12 examinations were conducted smoothly," Zahoor Ahmad Chatt, Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (BOSE), told IANS here. "The percentage of students taking this exam is normal given the averages over the last many years. There are no reports of any untoward incident from anywhere during the conduct of the exams." Authorities made elaborate arrangements of security at all these exam centres where police and paramilitary security forces were deployed in strength. Parents ferried children to the exam centres using different modes of private transport as a separatist-sponsored shutdown continued. Examination of Class 10 are to begin on Tuesday for which some 55,000 students have been enrolled. Chatt said 98 per cent of Class 10 students have already taken their admit cards. Since all educational institutions, including schools, have remained closed since July 9, the authorities decided to allow a 50 per cent cut in the syllabus for those students willing to take the exams.