In view of the panchayat elections due in February next year, the next matriculation examinations are unlikely to be held during the same time. To avoid the scorching summer, the Board of Secondary Education (BSE), Odisha had been holding the examinations in February for the past several years.
“In view of the ensuing panchayat elections likely in February 2017, we will not be in a position to conduct the matriculation examination around the same time,” informed BSE President Sushant Das on Thursday. Since the teachers would be engaged in election duties and the schools would serve as booths for the elections, it would not be possible to conduct the examinations in February, Das added.
He further informed that the State Election Commission has also suggested the BSE not to fix any examinations during February after the BSE informed the commission through the Government that a tentative date to begin the examinations has been fixed for February 28.
“After the State Election Commission’s suggestions, we are thinking of postponing the examinations maximum up to the first week of March,” Das said, adding that the BSE is not prepared to hold the examinations in the month of January.
More than six lakh students are likely to write the examinations. The students and their parents are now a bit worried as the preparations for the examinations would hamper a lot in February when the canvassing for the elections would be at its peak with noisy campaigning by the candidates in rural areas.