Class XII examination begins in Nepal amid COVID-19 pandemic

The annual examination of Class XII began in Nepal on Wednesday amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Postponed twice, owing to the Corona Virus pandemic, the annual examination now is being conducted in the physical presence of students which formally opens the door for University-level education.

"It's okay to be held now. I think the exams should have been held a long time before but it's okay, it would be finished soon so it's okay," Abhishek Sigdel, an exam appearing student told ANI.

Prior to examinations that started from September 15 and run till September 24, exam appearing students who are above the age of 18 were vaccinated with anti-COVID-19 doses. As many as 374,000 students are sitting in the Grade 12 examinations.

"The examination halls we have set aside for this exam have individual tables and chairs and on each bench, there is only one student allowed to sit, that's the internal examination environment. Prior to that, as the students enter the premises we have a proper test system where a professional medical person is taking care of the situation, student's temperature and based on that students are allowed to come up," Kumar Thapa, in charge of examination centre told ANI.

The National Board of Education (NEB) had published the routine to conduct exams from home centres enabling students to attend exams from the college where they are admitted.

Earlier, the Education and Health Committee of the Parliament had urged the concerned authority to vaccinate Grade 12 students who are sitting for the board examinations. The mass gathering of students high in number is being conducted when the Himalayan nation continues to report cases of COVID-19.

On Wednesday alone, it recorded 1,760 new cases along with 1,220 recoveries and 7 deaths, according to the latest information from the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP). A total of 16,844 tests were conducted on Wednesday. Of them, 1,332 PCR and 428 antigen tests turned out to be positive for the deadly virus.

There are currently 26,307 active cases of COVID-19 across the country. Of them, 24,683 are in home isolation, 1624 in institutional isolation, 407 in ICUs and 129 on ventilators. Similarly, 218 are currently in quarantine.