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Bengaluru, May 23: SSLC and PUC students residing in containment zones will not be able to write the exams scheduled to be held in June and July, respectively, but will be given opportunity to write the supplementary examination and treated as fresh candidates.

Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar announced this at a press conference on Friday.

In turn, officials in the Department of Primary and Secondary Education will start collecting the list of students in containment zones. However, they are worried since the list of containment zones is dynamic and a particular locality can be declared a containment zone even the night before the examination.

“If any examination centre is located in the containment zone, then we can change the centre and move it to a non-containment zone. However, if a student resides in a zone that is declared containment zone just before the exam, there is no option but for the person to skip the exam,” an official said.

Officials of the department are worried about another scenario as well. “There is a chance that midway through the examination, an area is becomes a containment zone. Then some students may write a few papers and give the rest a miss. Implementation at the district- and block-levels will be a challenge,” said an official.

Sources said that the department is working out several situations that may arise and trying to work on providing practical solutions to the students.

Around 5.98 lakh students have registered for the second pre-university English examination that is scheduled to be held on June 18. As many as 8.48 lakh students have registered for the SSLC examination scheduled to be held between June 25 and 4 July. Currently, there are 261 containment zones in Karnataka that have 5.49 lakh people residing in these zones.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka Secondary Education and Examination Board has decided to ensure that only 18 students are seated in a classroom to write the SSLC examination. This is to ensure that social distancing is maintained in the exam hall.

Tumakuru, Jan 2: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday paid respects to the 'Gadduge' (final resting place) of Shivakumara Swamiji at Siddaganga Math, a prominent Lingayat seminary here, and said the Swamiji's work would continue to inspire everyone.

The Swamiji, who was known as the 'Walking God' among his countless followers, had passed away last year at the age of 111. The Prime Minister, who arrived at the Yelahanka Airbase in Bengaluru, went directly to Tumakuru, where the Math is located, by a chopper along with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and former Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda among others. Modi, after offering respects to the 'Gadduge', planted Bilva plant (Aegle marmelos) on the premises of the Math and also laid the foundation for the construction of a museum dedicated to Swamiji here before addressing the gathering, largely comprising students. Speaking on the occasion, Modi said he was feeling blessed to begin 2020 from the sacred land of Siddaganga, but at the same time was feeling the "vacuum" in the absence of Shivakumara Swamiji. "It is rare see the number of people swamiji had inspired during his life time. I'm really fortunate to lay the foundation for the museum in swamiji's memory. Through this museum, his works will continue to inspire generations," he said. Also, Prime Minister remembered Vishwesha Theertha of Udupi's Pejawar Math who passed away recently. Yediyurappa and the present pontiff of the Math Siddalinga Swamiji were among the others present. Known as "trivida dasohi" for his triple sacraments - food, shelter and education - among his followers, Shivakumara swamiji was considered as the incarnation of Basavanna, the 12th-century social reformer, as he accepted all irrespective of their religion or caste. There has been a growing clamour from people of different walks of life, including politicians, for conferring "Bharat Ratna" on the late Swamiji.

After the Swamiji's demise, the then Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had written to Modi urging him to confer the country's highest civilian order on the late seer.

Opposition Congress on Thursday questioned the Prime Minister about not conferring the"Bharat Ratna" on Shivakumara Swamiji.

Questioning Modi as to why he did not visit Tumakuru when Shivakumara Swamiji of Siddaganga Math passed away, the principal opposition party in the state assembly in a tweet also sought to know why the seer was not conferred with the Bharat Ratna yet, while pointing out that former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had written a letter in this regard in January 2018.

The present seer of the seminary Siddalinga Swamiji presented Modi a silver statue of Shivakumara Swamiji as a memento.

Mangaluru, July 24: Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district reported 8 new Covid-19 deaths in the last two days taking the toll to over 100. The district has recorded 107 Covid-19 deaths till now.

Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh on Friday said a 44-year-old man from Mangaluru with the symptoms of respiratory failure, ARDS, AKI MODS hypertension, was admitted to a private hospital on July 19 and died on July 22. His throat swab tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday.

Another 56-year-old man from Mangaluru, who died on July 23, was suffering from urinary tract infection, MODS-septic shock, type II diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, systematic hypertension and IHD and had tested positive for Covid-19.

Mangaluru saw two more deaths -- a 75-year-old woman suffering from COPD with type 2 respiratory failure and multi-organ dysfunction syndrome with septic shock and a 65-year-old woman, who was suffering from BP and diabetes and admitted to a private hospital on July 13 and died on July 23.

A 61-year-old woman from Puttur, who was suffering from diabetes mellitus and hypertension and was undergoing treatment at a private hospital, died on July 23.

A 67-year-old man from Bhadravathi in Shivamogga, who was admitted to Wenlock Hospital on July 13 and was suffering from pneumonia and respiratory infection, died on July 23. He too tested positive for Covid-19.

Some of the other deaths were those of -- a 42-year-old man from Bantwal suffering from type 1 respiratory failure, urosepsis and uncontrolled type 2 diabetes and a 67-year-old man from Bhadravathi suffering from acute myocardial infarction, uncontrolled type 2 diabetes and systematic hypertension, Both died at private hospitals on July 23.

180 fresh cases

The Covid-19 graph slightly moved downward with the recording of 180 fresh cases, including four police personnel from Puttur police station. Of the positive cases, 56 are the primary contacts of the infected persons, 68 are suffering from Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) and 10 with the symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI).

The contacts of 45 persons who tested positive are being traced. One person with international travel history has also tested positive.

A total of 125 persons recovered and were discharged from hospitals, thus taking the tally of the total discharges to 1987.