According to the Office of the Controller of Examination (OCE), 4 percent of 426,214 applicants under regular category or around 17,100 students were ineligible to take the test as their attendance was lower than 75 percent as stipulated by the office. Those barred will have to wait for a year to register themselves under the exempted category where the attendance criteria are not applicable.

The number of such students stood at 17,837 last year. While phasing out the SLC sent-up exams in 2011 as required by the Education Regulations (Sixth Amendment), the OCE had made 75 percent attendance, out of total school days, mandatory for regular students to qualify for the exam. A total of 574,685 examinees, including 145,183 under the exempted category, took the test this March. Meanwhile, the OCE has convened a meeting for all the SLC Board members as it plans to publish the test results this week. Examination Controller Bishnu Bahadur Dware said that the results will be published either on Friday or Saturday. Obtained marks are being registered on to the ledger and the results will be published upon verification, he explained.