Bhubaneswar: Around 12,000 students remained absent on the first day of the annual Matric examination in Odisha, School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond said today.

The Minister informed that the department is examining the reasons behind the large number of absentees. He said an assessment is underway to find out why the students did not appear for the examination.

According to him, the School and Mass Education Department had made all necessary arrangements to ensure that students could take the examination without any difficulty. He clarified that there was no departmental lapse and most of the absences were due to personal reasons.

The Minister further said the state government has taken several steps to prevent school dropouts. These include conducting child tracking surveys, organising enrolment drives and running the 'Aaa School Jiba' campaign to encourage children to attend school regularly.

He added that the government will review the situation and take further measures to raise awareness so that more students appear for examinations in the coming days.