A majority of students taking the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exam in the Tarai region returned home dejected after the first day of test on Thursday.

Many students in Rautahat were dejected over the poor performance in the first paper. Santosh Chaudhary, who is taking the test at Simrabhawanipur centre in Rautahat, said his teachers could not complete the courses on time due to the banda that lasted for months on end. “We have been facing difficulties preparing for the test as the school were closed for five months,” he said.

Most of the schools in the region barely managed to complete the courses by running additional coaching classes. But the students taking the exam at Juddha Secondary School, Chandranigahapur, Sindhureghari, Samanpur, Katahariya centres wore a nervous look on their face.

Headmaster of Dumariya Secondary School Prem Narayan Chaudhary said that students were “ill prepared” for the exam as they could not complete the courses on time. “Despite coaching classes, the students have been low in confidence,” he said, adding that they could not concentrate on their answer sheets. That sentiment was echoed by Rautahat Chief District Officer Narahari Baral. “The Tarai region remained tense for months due to prolonged protests, which had a negative effect on students’ preparations for the SLC exam this year,” said Baral.

Another student Amit Kumar Gupta, who is appearing in the test from Dwardevi Secondary School in Birgunj, could not agree more. “My first paper did not go well. I had to skip several questions,” said Amit Kumar, adding that most of the schoolchildren had taken tuition classes.

“Despite tuition classes, our performance was not satisfactory on the first day of the exam,” said Nitish Kumar Sah at Alaun in Birgunj.