CUTTACK: The ten-day long state Matriculation (annual high school certificate) examinations will be held from Wednesday at over 2,000 centres, including two jails of the State. "A record number of students — nearly four lakh, about 26,000 more than last year, will appear for the examinations this year," said Orissa Board of Secondary Education secretary Minaketan Pani here on Tuesday.

The unique features of this year's exams are that for the first time the students are getting an additional 10 minutes to read the questions before writing on the answer scripts. Apart from setting up of exam centres at Choudwar circle jail and Koraput district jail, the BSE this year has opened nearly 2,000 exam centres to accommodate the additional students.

Foolproof arrangements are in place by the BSE for smooth conduct of examinations. The State Director-General of Police and the Chief Post Master general have been requested to extend their cooperation in providing security as well as smooth dispatch of answer sheets during the exam days, Pani informed.

Security in place

Police IG (law and order) B.B. Mishra said all district superintendents of police were instructed to provide adequate security at the examination centres. "SPs of Naxal-prone districts have been specifically instructed to keep watch over the centres located in troubled areas," Mishra said. Since the examinations are held under Orissa Control of Examinations Act-1988, the centre superintendents are equipped with additional powers under the Act to ensure smooth conduct of the exams.

The Board has also formed a six-tier squad to monitor the exams and prevent malpractices. In case of any malpractice reported from any of the centres, the concerned centre superintendents would be held responsible, Pani emphasised.

Control room

"Besides the squad at headmaster-level comprising teachers of the school, there would be zonal squad, flying squad, inspectors of schools squad and squad at joint director, director and commissioner level. All these squads would be monitored directly by the control room set up at the Board office here in Cuttack. The control room would function round the clock and take stock of the situation from hour to hour basis on all these days," the BSE secretary said.

About 3,99,789 students are expected to appear for the matriculation examinations this year that are scheduled to begin from Wednesday and continue up to March 16. While 3,26,896 students have filled up forms to appear in regular course, a record number of 60,000 students would appear in ex-regular course.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail