KATHMANDU: The National Examination Board (NEB) has apologized to the students and parents over the suspension of Secondary Education Examination (SEE) at the last hour ‘due to the adverse situation’.

In a press statement, NEB member-secretary Durga Aryal said the Board begs pardon for the inconvenience caused to all the concerned sides including students and parents due to the suspension of the SEE.

Member-Secretary Aryal said the exam had to be deferred at the last hour adopting the sensitivity over the global epidemic of the coronavirus. The Board has directed the superintendents at all exam centers to keep the confidential materials related to the exam like question papers and the answer sheets secure.

Likewise, it has urged the security bodies for their necessary cooperation with this.

Some 1, 995 exam centers across the country are deserted today with the government postponing the SEE which was scheduled to kick off from today. As of Wednesday afternoon, all preparations for the exams had been readied at the centers.

The exam symbol number of every candidate had been stuck on the tables and the question papers kept secured and ready for the examinations today.

However, the government in the evening announced the suspension of the SEE for an indefinite period citing the high risk of COVID-19 pandemic which has spread across the globe.

The high-level COVID-19 prevention coordination committee under Deputy Prime Minister Ishwor Pokharel, holding an emergency meeting, decided to suspend all exams including the SEE that were scheduled to take place this month until further notice.

A total of 482,707 students were sitting in the SEE this time and 65,000 strong workforce was mobilized to conduct the examination.