The National Examination Board (NEB) has decided to grade Secondary Education Examination (SEE) answer sheets at respective examination centres across the country.

Chudamani Paudel, secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, said that the board has made arrangements to ensure that marking for each subject is completed at the centre within three days of the exam’s conclusion.

“This time, the decision has been made to grade the answer sheets at the centres themselves. Where this is not feasible, the papers must be transported to the district-level Education Development and Coordination Unit on the day of the exam for marking,” Paudel said.

According to the board, the respective units have been authorised to decide whether grading takes place at the exam centre or at the unit office. “The marks must be sent to the board immediately after marking is completed within the stipulated timeframe,” Paudel, who is also the board’s vice-chair, said. “We are issuing a circular to complete the marking process within three days of each exam.”

Once the units transmit the scores, the board will enter and verify the data before publishing the results. Officials said the goal is to publish results within a month, which would allow SEE results to be released by mid-May.

There are 1,966 examination centres across the country. In previous years, answer sheets were collected and sent to different districts or provinces for marking to maintain anonymity, a process that typically took more than two and a half months. Following a directive from Education Minister Sasmit Pokharel to publish results within a month, the board has adopted centre-based grading.

A total of 512,421 students are set to appear for the SEE beginning Thursday. Tuka Raj Adhikari, controller of Examinations, confirmed that the examinees include 257,613 female students, 254,801 male students and seven others.

Additionally, 23 students from Everest School in Japan are sitting the examinations. Adhikari said around 73,500 personnel, including superintendents, assistants, invigilators and security forces, have been deployed.

The board said all examination materials, including question papers, have reached the centres. The exams, scheduled by the NEB on January 20, will run from April 2 to April 12.

The three-hour examinations will begin daily at 8:00 am. According to the timetable, Compulsory English will be held on the first day, followed by Compulsory Nepali on April 3, Compulsory Mathematics on April 5 and Science and Technology on April 6. Social Studies is scheduled for April 7, followed by optional subjects and technical stream papers until April 12.

The schedule applies to both regular and grade-increment candidates. The use of electronic devices, including mobile phones and smartwatches, is strictly prohibited in examination halls. Superintendents have been instructed to provide necessary facilities for students with disabilities, nursing mothers and those in mourning.