Bhubaneswar: After the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) on Thursday vacated its stay order and allowed the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) to hold the offline matriculation exam of 139 differently-abled students, the examinees attended the exams.
While hearing a review petition filed by the BSE on the day, OHRC directed it to arrange scribes for the 55 blind students and SSEPD to look into transportation facility of all the 139 students to the nine exam centres at Balasore, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Nimapara in adherence to the Covid-19 guidelines. It further directed the BSE that 40 minutes of extra time be given to the students for the tests.
The special students of nine schools, run by NGOs and Red Cross Society with 100 per cent grant-in-aid by Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department (SSEPD), had earlier this week sought grace marks from the BSE citing their inability to write the offline test due to lack of scribes, transportation facility to the exam centres and provision for accommodation. Considering their difficulties, OHRC had stayed the exam.
