A file photo of students arriving for the SSLC exam in Mangaluru.
Even though the last date for registration for the SSLC annual exam-1 to be held in March – April, 2026, has passed, it has been found that 40,434 class 10 students across the State have not registered.
According to the Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL), a total of 8,40,196 students have registered for class 10 in government, aided and private schools for the year 2025-26. Despite multiple extensions of the deadline to register for the SSLC exam from October, the last deadline ending on December 9, only 7,99,762 students have registered.
Sources said that many students who have not registered for the SSLC exam are students of unauthorised schools and schools where recognition renewal (RR) has not been done. However, they may also include school dropouts, those with low attendance, among others.
Expressing concern over such a large number of students not registering for the exam, the Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB) has directed officials from DSEL to visit all high schools in the State and audit registrations.
Officials have been asked to obtain and verify the list of students who have not registered for the examination with appropriate reasons and explanations and take immediate action to register eligible students. Steps will be taken to bring back even dropouts, sources said.
“Every year, around 5,000 to 15,000 students from unauthorised schools and schools that have not done recognition renewal are facing problems as they cannot register for the exam. The children are suffering due to the mistakes of the school management. Children from such schools are strictly not allowed to register for the SSLC exams. These children are registered in the names of nearby government or aided schools and allowed to take the exam. But this year, the number of students who have not registered is very high. Therefore, the officials have been instructed to look into the reason why such a large number of students are not registering for the exams,” a senior official of KSEAB said.
Published – December 17, 2025 09:43 pm IST
