The Secondary Education Examination that commenced on Friday went ahead smoothly across the country, except for a few cases of mismanagement and cheating.

The 10th graders took the English test on the very first day of the two-week-long examinations. While the National Examination Board fixes the exam dates, prepares question sets and publishes the results, respective Provincial Examination Management Committees administer the tests.

“The test for English was held peacefully, except for a few incidents of mismanagement and attempts to breach rules in the Madhesh Province,” Mahashram Sharma, chairperson of the Board, told the Post. “We are thankful to the provincial committees for their effective management.”

The examination in Mahendra Adarsha Secondary School, Bara was delayed after question sheets of Nepali subject were distributed instead of English. The district examination management committee has suspended the superintendent, deputy superintendent and invigilator in charge of the centre.

As many as 485,396 students—242,712 girls, 242,674 boys and 10 sexual and gender

minorities—are taking the exams.

Though 516,591 students had registered for the exams while in grade 9, more than 30,000 of them dropped out by the time of SEE. Among the total examinees, 15,451 are from the technical and vocational category.

The board has set up 2,037 examination centres, including one in Japan for the grade 10 tests. Fourteen children of Nepali parents living in Japan are taking the test from Tokyo. The answer sheets and the question papers for the Nepali students in Japan too have been dispatched from Nepal. Some Nepali students in Japan have been studying Nepal’s curriculum for years.

“We have prepared separate question sheets for each province, though the testing pattern is the same,” said Sharma. The board has deployed 77,992 staff to hold the examinations. It has printed some five million answer booklets.

The tests will conclude on April 12. The board will publish the results within three months from the conclusion of the tests. The School Leaving Certificate Examination was renamed SEE after grades 11 and 12 were brought under the school education system. The new provision was introduced in line with the eighth amendment to the Education Act in 2016 which restructured the school education in two categories—basic (grades one to eight) and secondary (grades 9 to 12).

Only those who qualify in the SEE examinations can study for grade 11. One has to secure at least 35 percent marks in the tests to get admitted to grade 11. “Those who get less than 35 percent marks will be categorised as non-graded, which disqualifies them for admission to grade 11,” said Sharma, the Board chairperson.