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Matriculation exams from March 26

CUTTACK: It’s official now. The matriculation examinations of Orissa Board will begin on March 26 and continue up to April 5. More than 3.75 lakh students will appear for the two-week-long examinations in over 2,000 examination centres spread across the State.

“Looking at the onset of scorching summer we have decided to finish the examinations in the first week of April,” said State Board of Secondary Education (BSE) secretary Prashant Kumar Samal on Tuesday.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Samal said arrangements for the examinations were in final stage and hoped that the examinations, being held for the first time under a new syllabus with 19 papers, including optional and practical tests, would end smoothly.

At least 3.20 lakh students from some 7,000 schools would write the examination in regular stream in 1,723 centres while 57,737 students would take the exams in ex-regular stream. The board would also conduct the Prathama and Madhyama examination in Sanskrit stream, which is also equivalent to Matriculation examination.

The BSE has decided to request the Director General of Police (DGP) and all the district collectors and SPs to make adequate security arrangements at the examination centres located in their respective districts. “We would be requesting the police to make special arrangements in the centres located in Naxal-prone areas to ensure that the examination process was not disrupted mid-way, Mr. Samal said.

Since the examinations were held under Orissa Control of Examinations Act-1988, the centre superintendents were equipped with additional powers under the Act to ensure smooth conduct of the exams. The Board was also planning to form a six-tier squad to monitor the exams and prevent malpractice.

“We have also identified at least 100 highly-sensitive and nearly 300 sensitive examination centres which has a track record of adopting malpractice. We would depute observers in these centres to check any form of malpractice, the secretary added. In case of any malpractice reported from any of the centres, the concerned centre superintendent would be held responsible, he said. Efforts were made to ensure that there was at least one exam centre located in every 10 km radius, except few aberrations in KBK districts having vast stretches of mountainous areas.

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