No offline exam for differently-abled class 10 students for now, Odisha rights body directs

bhubaneswar: the odisha human rights commission (ohrc) directed the board of secondary education (bse) on monday not to proceed with the offline examination of differently-abled students of class 10.      the interim order came on a petition by rights activist manoj jena against the bse's decision to not declare the results of the high school certificate (hsc) examination of 139 differently-abled students of special schools.    the ohrc wondered why the bse was insisting on offline-mode examination of the differently-abled students when the result of lakhs of students of general schools had been published without any examination and based on the marks secured in classes 9 and 10.    the bse has decided to conduct the hsc examination of those who wished to take the written exam and of the 139 different-abled pupils of special school through the offline mode on july 30.    the petitioner said such a decision of the bse was not only arbitrary, but also intended to put the differently-abled students in utter difficulty during the covid-19 pandemic.    taking a very serious view of the matter, the commission said it did not find any justification on part of the bse for such a decision, and termed it "surprising".    pending the final decision on the matter, it asked the bse secretary not to proceed with the offline examination of differently-abled students till the next date of hearing.    the rights panel warned that if anything untoward happens in the matter affecting the interest of the differently-abled students, it shall be the sole risk of the bse and the officer concerned.    the ohrc posted the matter on august 6 for further hearing.