Students who had their examination centre at the Government Senior Secondary School, Talwandi Rai in Raikot for Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) Class 12 Boards, had to sit on the floor on the first day of the exam.
No seating arrangements had been made for them and they had to sit on the floor on mats as no benches were available.
Authorities who had to fit 534 PSEB Class 12 students from private schools in its 10 classrooms also had to declare a half-day holiday for its other students there was no extra space left for regular classes.
School principal Balwinder Kaur said, “We have made our best efforts to accommodate the students and deputed all our school staff on examination duty. We informed the district education officer regarding the problem but were told to manage the arrangements on our own. We could accommodate some students in classrooms but some had to be seated on mats placed in the corridors.”
The situation was no different in other schools. A visit to the Government High School, Sarabha Nagar, at 11am revealed that to accommodate 234 students, the school had vacated its classrooms and its own students were sitting outdoors studying.
The school sent home students of standards six, seven and eight after serving them midday meals as the Class 12 Board exam started at 2 pm, school principal Kusum Lata said. “However, two teachers will take classes of students in Classes nine and ten on the first floor,” she said
Meanwhile, several schools such as Government Senior Secondary School, Sarabha Nagar, were forced to borrow benches from primary schools close by for the exams as they did not have enough benches of their own. However, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Cemetery Road, bought new benches to accommodate 234 Class-12 students.
