Students studying through distant learning will, from this year on, be allowed to sit for School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examinations.

The Office of the Controller of Examination (OCE) said that it has for the first time in the country made arrangement for ‘distance learning’ students to appear for SLC exams.

This became possible after the Open Learning Division of the Educational Manpower Development Centre opened “open schools” to increase the access of students who dropped in grade VIII to higher education as a trial project.

Students appearing in SLC exams in the distance learning format do not have to go through the sent-up exams. Instead students enrolled in Open Schools are evaluated based on their attendance, homework and exams they have appeared.

The students appearing for SLC exams through the distant learning system will be asked the same questions asked to the regular students and those passing the exams will be recognised as regular students.

A total of 148 students from various parts of the country will appear for the SLC exams this year. The students are mainly from the remote region of Nepal. nepalnews.com ag Feb 06 08