Palakkad: Class-10 students who have cleared the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination conducted by the Kerala Board of Public Examinations (KBPE) this year are yet to receive their certificates.
The SSLC results were declared two months ago and the admission process for higher studies, viz., Plus-One (Class 11) courses are now almost over in schools following the Kerala syllabus. The delay in getting the all-important SSLC is causing undue hardship for several students seeking admission to higher secondary courses.
What authorities say
During previous years, the Certificate was issued before the Plus-One admissions started. When contacted over the delay, an official at Pareeksha Bhavan — which conducts the exam — said that, “the printing of the certificates has only started now and they will reach the schools after a couple of weeks.”
Trouble for Plus-One applicants
Incidentally, the authorities had instructed candidates seeking Plus-One admissions that they could upload their Secondary School Leaving Certificate to obtain bonus marks and reservations in place of the nativity and community certificates. However, the students had uploaded their mark-lists, which did not mention their caste/religion and panchayat/municipality/corporation of residence. In fact, students who have taken admissions so far under community quota did so by producing caste certificate. Similarly, as proof of residence, ration card or Aadhaar card has to be produced under the present circumstances.
According to students and teachers, the instructions for admissions to Plus-One do not mention the documents to be produced for the purpose. As a result, many students fail to carry the required documents during admission, complicating matters.
Cross-checking behind delay?
Meanwhile, the General Education Department official explained that the delay in issuing the Certificate was caused because cross-checking was carried out to ensure that the particulars of students in the certificate were correct. “The names of students were submitted wrongly in Malayalam by several schools. These spelling errors were corrected before printing of the certificates started,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the authorities said that the digital version of the certificate was available on the DigiLocker App.