Considered as the Iron Gate, the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination has begun across the country from today (March 31, 2016).

A total of 615,553 students have appeared in the examinations from 1,943 exam centres set up across the country for the purpose, according to the Office of the Controller of the Examinations.

Of the total examinees, 452,881(227,535 girls and 225,346 boys) were from the regular category, while 159,417 examinees (97,036 girls and 62,381 boys) were from the exempted category.

Similarly, a total of 3,255 examinees (1,273 girls and 1,982 boys) were appearing in the SLC examinations under the technical and vocation stream.