In the lack of a mechanism at the provincial level, the Office of the Controller of Examinations, under the Central Examination Board (CEB), will be holding the Grade 10 examinations, dubbed Secondary Education Examination after the School Leaving Certificate Examination was phased out last year.

The Legislature-Parliament on June 4 last year endorsed the eighth amendment to the Education Act-1972 in a major step towards restructuring the school education.

The Act restructured school education into basic (Grades 1 to 8) and secondary (Grades 9 to 12) instead of the four levels—primary, lower-secondary, secondary and higher secondary.

The Grade 10 exams will start on March 16. The 11-day test will conclude with practicals on March 27.

Starting this academic session, the Ministry of Education was preparing to take the Grade 10 examinations down to the provincial level and to hold the SLC exams at Grade 12 under the Central Examination Board. However, due to the lack of the required set-up in the provinces, the OCE will be conducting the examination at the national level.

The Act also mandated the CEB to conduct the examination of Grade 10.

In the transitional phase, the CEB has decided to authorise the OCE to hold the Grade 10 exams.

“We hopefully will set up the required mechanism at the provincial level from next year,” said Ambika Regmi, the controller at the OCE.

As per the new law, the Higher Secondary Education Board, which was authorised to conduct the Grade 11 and 12 exams, has been converted into the CEB.

Unlike in the past, the Grade 11 tests will be held by the respective schools.

Beginning last year, the government has started letter grading system, replacing the old evaluation system.