Bengaluru: Over 19,000 students were unable to write the ongoing Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination owing to shortage of attendance.

According to data available with the Karnataka Secondary Education Examinations Board, the number of students with attendance shortage this year (19,306) has increased over last year’s 18,785.

Following a Supreme Court order, it is mandatory for every student to have 75 per cent attendance to be eligible to appear for final Board exams.

It may be recalled that over 8,000 candidates missed the Pre-University II examinations held recently, due to attendence shortage.  

Board officials said that though there have been reminders, in most cases students don’t take it seriously. “There will be few genuine cases of ill health, and if they submit proper medical records, the headmaster of the school verifies it and issues the admission ticket. If they find the records are fake, then it will be rejected,” said a senior board official.

The data over the last four years reveals that, at least 13,000 students are missing the SSLC examination every year due to attendance shortage. They are not allowed to appear for the supplementary exams and have to register as a fresh candidate.