As 99 per cent students on Tuesday appeared in matriculation examination conducted by the Jammu Kashmir Board of School Education, the government says no one should detect victory or loss in the successful conduct of exams.
“For the past 27 years, students have been appearing in exams and it had no impact on Kashmir issue,” Education Minister Naeem Akhtar said.
Of the 55,392 students enrolled for Class 10, 54,593 students appeared in exams in 545 centres across Kashmir valley.
Police and security agencies were deployed in strength in all centres to ensure incident-free exams.
“It was crucial for students that examination be held as otherwise they would have lost a year. Nobody should try to detect victory or loss in it. It is a win-win situation for everybody,” Akhtar told Outlook.
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He said society and the system would have to work hard to compensate for the academic loss and government would try to do its bit.
The highest percentage of students who appeared in exams were from south Kashmir, which witnessed massive protests after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8. At least 90 civilians have been killed and over 10,000 injured in the crackdown. Two policemen were killed and 4000 security men were injured in the clashes.
The police have arrested over 6000 persons involved in various cases, including stone throwing.
On Sunday 94.53 % of students appeared for Class 12 exams.
The state government faced severe criticism for refusing to postpone exams as students had not attended classes during the past four months. Following the criticism, the government came up with a scheme giving an option of 50% relaxation in the syllabus to students appearing in secondary and higher secondary exams in November. The move attracted students and resulted in high participation.
