A screenshot of the schedule for the upcoming Class 10 SSLC (Secondary School Leaving Certificate) exams in Karnataka is being shared on social media platforms.
The claim: Some users who shared the screenshot have claimed that while all exams were scheduled for the morning, the exam for one of the subjects, which will take place on a Friday, has intentionally been set for 2 pm to make time for namaz in the morning.
At the time of writing this report, this X post by user '@astitvam' had been viewed more than three lakh times and was shared by over 1,600 users.
Who shared it?: Karnataka's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Hariprakash Konemane shared the screenshot with Kannada text, accusing the Congress of "Muslim appeasement."
The claim was also shared by Karnataka's Hindu Janajagruti Samiti's spokesperson Mohan Gowda.
(Swipe to view both claims.)
BJP Karnataka's spokesperson HP Konemane shared the claim.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
(Archives of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here, here, and here.)
But...?: The claim is false.
A note towards the end of the document seen in the screenshot states that the exam on Friday, 1 March, has been scheduled for 2 pm due to another PUC (Pre-University Course) exam being held in the morning.
How did we find out?: To verify whether the document being shared is actually of the Class 10 SSLC exam schedule, we went to the Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board's (KSEAB) website.
We found the same document uploaded as 'TIME TABLE FOR SSLC PREPARATORY EXAM 2023-2024'.
The second half of the document carries the same information in English.
At the end of this document is a note, which clearly states the reason for the Science exam on Friday, 1 March, being scheduled for the afternoon session.
It mentioned that the second PUC (Pre-University Course) exam was also being held on the same day.
Since some colleges and schools are exam centers for PUC exams as well as SSLC exams, "Science subject Preparatory Examination of SSLC is scheduled on 01.03.2024 afternoon session (sic)."
To corroborate this, we looked for the PUC exam timetable on their website.
It showed that Kannada and Arabic language exams were scheduled for 1 March 2024, the former being a three-hour long examination starting at 10:15 am.
We saw that the schedules for both exams overlapped only on 1 March, which is the only day the SSLC exam is scheduled for the afternoon.
Karnataka Congress' clarification: The Karnataka Congress' official X account also addressed this claim in a post, calling out the communal angle given to the incident.
A translated version of the post said that the move was made "to avoid confusion and shortage of examination centers," accusing the BJP in the state of using it for "incitement through false propaganda."
Conclusion: The Karnataka government scheduled the SSLC exam on 1 March in the afternoon to avoid an overlap with a PUC exam scheduled for the morning. There is no communal angle involving Muslim students and namaz.
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