Over 6 lakh students sit for Matric exams

Cuttack: The annual High School Certificate (HSC) examinations began across 2882 centers across the State today. Over six lakh students are appearing for the Matric exams which are scheduled to be held between 9 AM and to 11.40 AM, barring the Mathematics subject which will have 15 minutes of extra time and end at 11.55 AM. The exams will conclude on March 4.

The School and Mass Education minister Debi Prasad Mishra said, “We have created squads at all places for smooth conduct of examinations and the district administrations have also engaged supervisors for the same. Even the BDOs and Tehsildars have also included in the teams overseeing the examinations. The administration is keeping a tab on the proceedings here at the control room and I will visit Bhadrak and Balasore districts. We have made special arrangements in Maoist-infested areas and police patrolling is done. The concerned district administration has been given the responsibility to monitor the situation. Moreover, senior police officials have also spoken to the concerned collectors and SPs in this regard.”

Commenting on the agitating teachers who are conducting the exams wearing black badges, the minister said that I want them to discharge their duties properly and help in effective management of the exams.

The Board of Secondary Education (BSE) had informed yesterday that all preparations were complete for smooth conduct of the examination.

“We have told the centre superintendents to open the OMR sheet packets much earlier and check whether the number of OMR sheets sent by the Board is equal to the number of students or less. This year, we have sent 25 additional OMR sheets to each centre. Apart from this, we have kept 300 additional sheets in each nodal centres. Despite this, if there is a shortage of OMR sheets, the concerned superintendents have been asked to immediately contact either the District Education Officer (DEO) or the Board headquarters,” informed BSE president Prof Dakshya Prasad Nanda

On the possibility of shortage of question papers, the BSE president said the Board has instructed the centre superintendents to immediately check the label on the question paper packets mentioning the total number of question papers allotted to the centre. If they feel that there is shortage of question papers, they should immediate inform the DEO, the nodal officer or the Board headquarters.

“I hope there would be no shortage of question papers as the Board has kept additional question papers in the district nodal centres,” Nanda said