India reported just over 4,000 cases on Friday, March 11. As of March 10, Odisha reported 108 fresh cases. With the immediate threat from COVID-19 declining steadily, the state government of Odisha has decided to conduct the annual Matriculation or Class X exam in the offline mode from April 29. This was announced by Chief Secretary SC Mohapatra through a video message where he said that the Matric Summative Assessment-II will be held offline. 

Stating that it is mandatory for all students to appear in the examination, the Chief Secretary said that the evaluation of the Board of Secondary Examination will be done via three methods. As many as 6.5 lakh students are expected to appear in the annual examination. It has been decided that students will appear in the Summative Assessment-II in their own respective schools while teachers from other schools will be engaged as invigilators, the official said.

The Chief Secretary said that the decision to conduct the offline examination was taken after discussions with all stakeholders, including students and parents. Mohapatra said that the state government has come up with several measures to provide relief to students, keeping in view the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of children by coming up with an alternative assessment system. However, if the conduct of the examination is not feasible in the school, then provisions will be made to ensure that the students appear for the exam in a nearby school. School teachers from other schools will be deployed during the examinations.