Thiruvananthapuram: The first-term examinations in schools following the State syllabus in Kerala will be held from August 16 to 24.

The Onam examinations, as the exams are called, were scheduled to begin on August 17 as per the academic calendar. However, most of the schools will be turned into examination centres for tests conducted by the Kerala Public Service Commission on August 19, Saturday, which is a working day.

The Quality Improvement Programme (QIP) monitoring committee meeting took the same into consideration and decided to start the examinations one day earlier.

The examinations to be held at the Upper Primary (UP) and High School sections will commence on August 16, while those at the Lower Primary (LP) level will be held from August 19 to 24. The schools will be closed for the Onam holidays on August 25 and reopen on September 4.

Question paper

The Public Education Department will prepare and print the question papers for classes 1 to 10, and distribute the same to the schools. However, the schools themselves will have to prepare the question papers for Plus-Two examinations, like that done in the previous year.

Salary dues to be cleared

Teachers working on a daily-wage basis will be paid two months' outstanding salaries. Director of General Education (DGE) S Shanavas informed the various teachers' associations that measures on a war footing have been taken to clear the dues.

The associations demanded the immediate allocation of the outstanding Lower Secondary Scholarship (LSS) and Upper Secondary Scholarship (USS) amount as well, besides the reward for higher secondary paper valuation. The official, though, said the same can be allotted only when the State Government hand over the required funds.