Raiganj, March 5: Tension for the 38 Madhyamik candidates of Sebagram High School ended just an hour before the scheduled start of the examinations today when they were handed their admits cards enabling them to sit for the test.

There was high drama yesterday as the parents and guardians of these candidates thronged the school gates demanding to know why their wards had not received their admit cards. This was despite the fact that the rest of the 82 candidates from the same school had been handed over the document.

The parents had threatened to prevent everyone from entering the school today if their problem was not solved. They blamed the school for not being prompt enough to solve the problem.

Last Wednesday, school authorities sent an emissary to the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education in Calcutta after sustained pressure from the candidates. Yesterday, the board sent a message to the centre in-charge here, stating that the admit cards had been despatched to their zonal office in Siliguri.

Congress MLA from Raiganj Chittaranjan Roy, who is also a teacher of the same school, left for Siliguri. He personally distributed the admit cards to the relieved students moments before the start of the secondary examination.

The candidates and their parents, while expressing their relief, could not but conceal the fact that the tension had left a mark on their preparations. The past week or more of uncertainty had prevented all of them from concentrating on their studies.

“I could not sleep at all last night as I was not sure whether I will be able to appear for the examination. My preparations took a back seat because I was always fretting and losing sleep,” said Abed Ali, one of the 38 candidates.

Ali and others like him pointed out that their marks would suffer as a result of this harassment.

“We are certain that this incident will leave a mark on whatever we do in the future. Maybe we will have to bear the effects of something that was not our fault,” Ali said.

“During the past 10 days, when the others who had received their admit cards were either busy studying or taking a break from the preparations, we were running to school and back again trying to figure out if our admit cards had arrived,” said another candidate, Shatia Mardi.

“I wanted to study in the science stream for my higher secondary examination, but now I do not know whether the marks I could score will be enough to pursue my dreams,” Shantia said.

The entire blame is being passed on to the secondary board by the school authorities as a “glitch on their part”.

“The board’s oversight caused undue harassment to my students. We had been waiting for the admit cards and depended on the board for reaching it to us. Finally, however, the MLA was kind enough to go and collect the them. We shall be more vigilant in future,” said teacher-in-charge of Sebagram High School, Kafiruddin Ahmed.

Roy said it was a matter of great relief that the students could appear for the exams.